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Interference Effects In The Memory For Serially Presented Locations In Clark’S Nutcrackers, Nucifraga Columbiana, Jody L. Lewis, Alan C. Kamil

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

The authors tested the spatial memory of serially presented locations in Clark’s nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana). Birds were serially presented with locations in an open room. The authors buried a seed in a sand-filled cup at each location and then tested nutcrackers for their memory for each location in the list by using the cluster method. For each item in the list, the authors opened a cluster of 6 holes. Accuracy was measured by how many tries were required for the bird to find the correct location within each cluster. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors presented 2 …

Social Play In Kakapo (Strigops Habroptilus) With Comparisons To Kea (Nestor Notabilis) And Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis), Judy Diamond, Daryl Eason, Clio Reid, Alan B. Bond

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

The play behavior of the critically endangered kakapo (Strigops habroptilus; Aves: Psittaciformes: Psittacidae) is here compared to that of its closest relatives, the kea (Nestor notabilis) and the kaka (Nestor meridionalis). Contrasting kakapos, which are relatively solitary, with the more social Nestor parrots provides an attractive test of the relative contributions of phylogeny and sociality to the evolution of play. Overlapping cluster analysis of play sequences using a hypergeometric similarity metric indicated that kakapo play is generally less complex, lacking the intensity, duration, structure, and reciprocity of play in the Nestor parrots. Kakapos have …

Selective Attention, Priming, And Foraging Behavior, Alan Kamil, Alan B. Bond

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

Animals selectively filter and transform their sensory input, increasing the accuracy with which some stimuli are detected and effectively ignoring others. This filtering process, collectively referred to as “selective attention,” takes place at a variety of different levels in the nervous system. It was described in considerable detail by William James over a century ago (James, 1890/1950) and has been a principal focus of research in cognitive psychology for nearly 50 years (Parasuraman & Davies, 1984; Pashler, 1998; Richards, 1998). Investigations of selective attention have also been central to the study of animal cognition, where the process of attention has …

Sex-Specific Expression Of Alternative Transcripts In Drosophila, Lauren Mcintyre, Lisa Bono, Anne Genissel, Rick Westerman, Damion Junk, Marina Telonis-Scott, Lawrence G. Harshman, Marta Wayne, Artyom Kopp, Sergey V. Nuzhdin

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Many genes produce multiple transcripts due to alternative splicing or utilization of alternative transcription initiation/termination sites. This 'transcriptome expansion' is thought to increase phenotypic complexity by allowing a single locus to produce several functionally distinct proteins. However, sex, genetic and developmental variation in the representation of alternative transcripts has never been examined systematically. Here, we describe a genome-wide analysis of sex-specific expression of alternative transcripts in Drosophila melanogaster.

Results: We compared transcript profiles in males and females from eight Drosophila lines (OregonR and 2b, and 6 RIL) using a newly designed 60-mer oligonucleotide microarray that allows us …

Phylogenetic Analysis Of The Cardini Group Of Drosophila With Respect To Changes In Pigmentation, Jennifer A. Brisson, Jason Wilder, Hope Hollocher

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Phenotypic variability is the engine that drives future diversification with the expectation that polymorphic ancestors give rise to descendants harboring a subset of the ancestral variation. Here we examine evolutionary transitions from polymorphism to monomorphism in a visually striking New World radiation of fruit flies, the Drosophila cardini group. This group is distributed across the Americas and the Caribbean islands and exhibits a wide spectrum of abdominal pigmentation variation. Specifically, the D. dunni subgroup consists of Caribbean island endemics, each of which is monomorphic for its pigmentation pattern, with an interspecific cline of pigmentation across the islands. The D. cardini …

The Pea Aphid, Acyrthosiphon Pisum: An Emerging Genomic Model System For Ecological, Developmental, And Evolutionary Studies, Jennifer A. Brisson, David L. Stern

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Aphids display an abundance of adaptations that are not easily studied in existing model systems. Here we review the biology of a new genomic model system, the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. We then discuss several phenomena that are particularly accessible to study in the pea aphid: the developmental genetic basis of polyphenisms, aphid–bacterial symbioses, the genetics of adaptation and mechanisms of virus transmission. The pea aphid can be maintained in the laboratory and natural populations can be studied in the field. These properties allow controlled experiments to be performed on problems of direct relevance to natural aphid populations. Combined …

Assembly Of The Eastern North American Herpetofauna: New Evidence From Lizards And Frogs, J. Robert Macy, James A. Schulte Ii, Jared L. Strasburg, Jennifer A. Brisson, Allan Larson, Natalia B. Ananjeva, Yuezhao Wang, James F. Parham, Theodore J. Papenfuss

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Darwin first recognized the importance of episodic intercontinental dispersal in the establishment of worldwide biotic diversity. Faunal exchange across the Bering Land Bridge is a major example of such dispersal. Here, we demonstrate with mitochondrial DNA evidence that three independent dispersal events from Asia to North America are the source for almost all lizard taxa found in continental eastern North America. Two other dispersal events across Beringia account for observed diversity among North American ranid frogs, one of the most species-rich groups of frogs in eastern North America. The contribution of faunal elements from Asia via dispersal across Beringia is …

The Developmental And Molecular Basis Of Allometry In Drosophila, Alexander W. Shingleton, Jennifer A. Brisson, David L. Stern

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Allometry is the scaling relationship between the size of an organism and the size of its constituent parts. Despite its obvious developmental and evolutionary importance, very little is known of the mechanisms that regulate allometries. Here, we look at one particular type of allometry—that created by rearing Drosophila under different nutritional conditions. Drosophila larvae that are fed increasingly suboptimal diets eclose into increasingly small adults with increasingly small body parts. Surprisingly, however, the male genitals remain approximately the same size under a range of nutritional conditions. The genitals therefore maintain a different allometric relationship with the body than other structures. …

Optimal Time Allocation In Parasitic Wasps Searching For Hosts And Food, Brigitte Tenhumberg, Gitta Siekmann, Michael A. Keller

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Many species of parasitic wasp feed on sugar sources such as nectar and honeydew in order to replenish their energy reserves and so extend their life expectancy, which is often correlated with higher reproductive success. Recent research suggests that carbohydrates are also a key component in flight fuel in such insects. The importance of sugar in fuelling locomotion suggests location of sugar-rich food may be more important in parasitoid foraging behavior than has previously been assumed. If sugar sources and hosts are separated in space, parasitoids have to allocate their time between sugar-searching and host-searching. Using a stochastic dynamic programming …

Phylogenetics Of The Florally Diverse Andean Clade Iochrominae (Solanaceae), Stacey Dewitt Smith, David A. Baum

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Recent molecular phylogenetic studies of Solanaceae have identified many well-supported clades within the family and have permitted the creation of a phylogenetic system of classification. Here we estimate the phylogeny for Iochrominae, a clade of Physaleae sensu Olmstead et al. (1999), which contains 34 Andean species encompassing an immense diversity of floral forms and colors. Using three nuclear regions, ITS, the second intron of LEAFY, and exons 2 to 9 of the granule-bound starch synthase gene (waxy), we evaluated the monophyly of the traditional genera comprising Iochrominae and assessed the extent of interspecific hybridization within the clade. …

Incorporating Animal Behavior Into Seed Dispersal Models: Implications For Seed Shadows, Sabrina E. Russo, Stephen Portnoy, Carol K. Augspurger

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Seed dispersal fundamentally influences plant population and community dynamics but is difficult to quantify directly. Consequently, models are frequently used to describe the seed shadow (the seed deposition pattern of a plant population). For vertebrate dispersed plants, animal behavior is known to influence seed shadows but is poorly integrated in seed dispersal models. Here, we illustrate a modeling approach that incorporates animal behavior and develop a stochastic, spatially explicit simulation model that predicts the seed shadow for a primate-dispersed tree species (Virola calophylla, Myristicaceae) at the forest stand scale. The model was parameterized from field-collected data on …

Anatomy And Physiology Of Giant Neurons In The Antenniform Leg Of The Amblypygid Phrynus Marginemaculatus, A. J. Spence, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Amblypygids have modified front legs that are not used for locomotion, but rather to probe the environment in the manner of antennae. These elongate, motile sense organs are referred to as antenniform legs. We have found remarkable replication in structure and function of giant neurons in the antenniform leg of the amblypygid Phrynus marginemaculatus C.L. Koch 1841 when compared with other amblypygids. These neurons have such large diameter axons (several μm) that their action potentials can be recorded outside the cuticle. Their cell bodies are found in the periphery, in the distal-most segments of the antenniform leg, centimeters away from …

Regional Seismic Song Differences In Sky Island Populations Of The Jumping Spider Harbonattus Pugillis Griswold (Araneae, Salticidae), Damian O. Elias, Eileen Hebets, Ronald R. Hoy, Wayne P. Maddison, Andrew C. Mason

Eileen Hebets Publications

Jumping spiders have long been used as model organisms to study visual communication. However, recent studies documenting the presence of intricate multicomponent seismic songs during courtship displays suggest an important role of seismic communication as well. Given the relatively recent focus on seismic communication, the extent to which seismic songs vary among jumping spider species or even among populations remains poorly understood. Here, we use the extensively studied Habronattus pugillis Griswold 1987 complex to explore putative seismic song diversity among males from isolated populations. H. pugillis populations have been studied extensively because of the tremendous diversification of male visual secondary …

A Quantitative Trait Locus Analysis Of Natural Genetic Variation For Drosophila Melanogaster Oxidative Stress Survival, Yue Wang, David Pot, Stephen D. Kachman, Sergey V. Nuzhdin, Lawrence G. Harshman

Lawrence G. Harshman Publications

Little is known about natural genetic variation for survival under oxidative stress conditions or whether genetic variation for oxidative stress survival is associated with that for life-history traits. We have investigated survival in a high-oxygen environment at 2 adult densities using a set of re-combinant inbred lines (RILs) isolated from a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster. Female and male oxidative stress survival was highly correlated. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for oxidative stress survival were identified on both autosomes. These QTLs were sometimes sex or density spe-cific but were most often not. QTLs were identified that colocalize to the same …

Hyla Squirella (Squirrel Treefrog): Refugia., Louis A. Somma, David Serrano

Papers in Herpetology

HYLA SQUiREUA (Squirrel Treefrog). REFUGIA. Entomologists commonly use trap-nests to monitor cavity-nesting Hymenoptera. These trap-nests consist of 5 x 10 cm pine timber cut into 12-cm lengths. Five lengths are then stacked and strapped together. Each pIece of timber is predrilled in each side to have either a 3.2, 4.8, 6.4, 7.9, or 12.7 Iiundiameterhole, 8 cmindepth. Thus, each trap-nest consisted of five pieces of wood containing 2 holes of each diameter. They are suspended with wire from tree trunks and branches. We set these wooden traps (N = 10) at Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park, Gainesville, Alachua Co., Florida, …

Premature Induction Of An Immunosuppressive Regulatory T Cell Response During Acute Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection, Jacob D. Estes, Qingsheng Li, Matthew R. Reynolds, Stephen W. Wietgrefe, Lijie Duan, Timothy Schacker, Louis J. Picker, David I. Watkins, Jeffrey D. Lifson, Cavan Reilly, John V. Carlis, Ashley T. Haase

Qingsheng Li Publications

Here we report the results of an investigation into the possibility that one mechanism responsible for the establishment of persistent human immunodeficiency virus infection is an early regulatory T (T_reg) cell response that blunts virus- specific responses. Using the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)–infected rhesus macaque model, we show that, indeed, viral replication and immune activation in lymphatic tissue drive a premature immunosuppressive response, with dramatic increases in the frequencies of CD4⁺CD25⁺FOXP3⁺ Treg cells, transforming growth factor–β1⁺ cells, interleukin–10+ cells, and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase+CD3⁺ cells.When we compared SIV infection with rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) …

Hen1 Recognizes 21–24 Nt Small Rna Duplexes And Deposits A Methyl Group Onto The 2' Oh Of The 3' Terminal Nucleotide, Zhiyong Yang, Yon W. Ebright, Bin Yu, Xuemei Chen

Bin Yu Publications

microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) in plants bear a methyl group on the ribose of the 3' terminal nucleotide. We showed previously that the methylation of miRNAs and siRNAs requires the protein HEN1 in vivo and that purified HEN1 protein methylates miRNA/miRNA* duplexes in vitro. In this study, we show that HEN1 methylates both miRNA/miRNA* and siRNA/siRNA* duplexes in vitro with a preference for 21–24 nt RNA duplexes with 2 nt overhangs. We also demonstrate that HEN1 deposits the methyl group on to the 2' OH of the 3' terminal nucleotide. Among various modifications thatcanoccuronthe ribose of …

Liberty, Gender, And The Family, Jennifer Mckitrick

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

DISCUSSIONS OF JUSTICE within the classical liberal, libertarian tradition have been universalist. They have aspired to apply to any human community, whatever the makeup of its membership. Certainly some feminists have taken issue with this, arguing that the classical liberal, libertarian understanding of justice fails to address the concerns of women, indeed, does women an injustice. Among these we find Susan Moller Okin, and it will be my task in this essay to explore whether Okin's criticism is well founded. Susan Moller Okin's justice, Gender, and the Family is a landmark feminist discussion of distributive justice that raises issues no …

Parelaphostrongylus Odocoilei In Columbia Black-Tailed Deer From Oregon, Jack A. Mortenson, Arthur Abrams, Benjamin M. Rosenthal, Detiger Dunams, Eric P. Hoberg, Robert J. Bildfell, Richard L. Green

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Documenting the occurrence of Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei has historically relied on the morphological examination of adult worms collected from the skeletal muscle of definitive hosts, including deer. Recent advances in the knowledge of protostrongylid genetic sequences now permit larvae to be identified. Dorsal-spined larvae (DSLs) collected in 2003–2004 from the lung and feces of six Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) from Oregon were characterized genetically. The sequences from unknown DSLs were compared to those from morphologically validated adults and larvae of P. odocoilei at both the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA and the mitochondrial cytochrome …

Prairie Suite: A Celebration, Twyla Hansen, Paul A. Johnsgard

Paul Johnsgard Collection

25 poems by Twyla Hansen, with illustrations by Paul A. Johnsgard, including:

Walk on the Prairie

There is mystery here, in the shapes of grass,
in the dim movements of an inland sea,
connections to an earlier time. Wander barefoot,
hypothesize the dance of millennia, the unbearable
carvings of the built environment, this ragtag escape.

Let its divine simplicity ooze into your pores.
Comb the steel from your hair, blanket your
tongue with orange. Your breathing will slow.
Breathing slow, unbutton the child within.
Give her permission to go fly a kite.

Radio Frequency Identification Technology: Applications, Technical Challenges And Strategies, Suhong Li, John K. Visich, Basheer M. Khumawala, Chen Zhang

Management Department Faculty Journal Articles

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the technology behind RFID systems, identify the applications of RFID in various industries, and discuss the technical challenges of RFID implementation and the corresponding strategies to overcome those challenges.

Design/methodology/approach - Comprehensive literature review and integration of the findings from literature. Findings - Technical challenges of RFID implementation include tag cost, standards, tag and reader selection, data management, systems integration and security. The corresponding solution is suggested for each challenge.

Research limitations/implications - A survey type research is needed to validate the results.

Practical implications - This research offers useful …

An Artificial Intelligence Approach To International Market Screening Dss, Kelly E. Fish

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This paper applies artificial intelligence (AI) computing, Kohonan Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs), to the problem of international market selection (IMS). Broadly speaking, IMS can be summarized to consist of three stages a) screening stage, b) identification stage and, c) selection stage. The screening stage often employs some type of grouping technique so that firms can begin to view the potential markets in terms of similarities and differences over variables of interest. The underlying purpose is to screen out or eliminate markets that do not meet certain criteria established by the firm. Statistical techniques such as cluster analysis, discriminant analysis or factor …

Glucocorticoid Hormone Levels Increase With Group Size And Parasite Load In Cliff Swallows, Samrrah A. Raouf, Linda C. Smith, Mary Bomberger Brown, John C. Wingfield, Charles R. Brown

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Animals often cope with adverse events by releasing glucocorticoid hormones, which in turn promote increased energy assimilation. In captive animals, crowding also leads to increased glucocorticoid activity, probably because of increased levels of social competition. We investigated how group size and ectoparasite infestations affected endogenous levels of the glucocorticoid hormone, corticosterone, in colonial cliff swallows, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, in southwestern Nebraska, USA. Parasites were removed from some colonies by fumigating nests. Baseline levels of corticosterone in breeding adults varied significantly with whether parasites were present, colony size (measured by total number of active nests at a site), and nesting stage. …

Nonparametric Estimation Of Natural Selection On A Quantitative Trait Using Mark-Recapture Data, Olivier Gimenez, Rita Covas, Charles R. Brown, Mark D. Anderson, Mary Bomberger Brown, Thomas Lenormand

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Assessing natural selection on a phenotypic trait in wild populations is of primary importance for evolutionary ecologists. To cope with the imperfect detection of individuals inherent to monitoring in the wild, we develop a nonparametric method for evaluating the form of natural selection on a quantitative trait using mark-recapture data. Our approach uses penalized splines to achieve flexibility in exploring the form of natural selection by avoiding the need to specify an a priori parametric function. If needed, it can help in suggesting a new parametric model. We employ Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling in a Bayesian framework to estimate …

A Coprological View Of Ancestral Pueblo Cannibalism Debate Over A Single Fecal Fossil Offers A Cautionary Tale Of The Interplay Between Science And Culture, Karl J. Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

As the object of my scientific study, I’ve chosen coprolites. It’s not a common choice, but to a paleonutritionist and archaeoparasitologist, a coprolite—a sample of ancient feces preserved by mineralization or simple drying—is a scientific bonanza. Analysis of coprolites can shed light on both the nutrition of and parasites found in prehistoric cultures. Dietary reconstructions from the analysis of coprolites can inform us about, for example, the origins of modern Native American diabetes. With regard to parasitology, coprolites hold information about the ancient emergence and spread of human infectious disease. Most sensational, however, is the recent role of coprolite analysis …

Privies And Parasites: The Archaeology Of Health Conditions In Albany, New York, Charles L. Fisher, Karl Reinhard, Matthew Kirk, Justin Divirgilo

Karl Reinhard Publications

Large numbers of parasites were identified in archaeological samples collected from privies and other features in excavations in Albany, New York. This information provides the largest database available for the study of parasite infections in historical period American cities. The greatest numbers of parasites were in contexts related to the expansion of the city in the late-18th century. Parasites remained, but their quantities decreased in the 19th century during another period of rapid population growth. The city was able to control parasite infection during this period through several means, including new techniques of privy construction, new water supply systems, and …

The Problem Of Secular Sacredness: Ronald Dworkin, Michael Perry, And Human Rights Foundationalism, Ari Kohen

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The concept of human rights ultimately rests on the premise that there are some things that ought to be done for human beings and other things that ought not to be done to human beings in light of the fact that they are human. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these rights stem from the “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” (Ishay 1997: 407). Some would argue that this notion has its roots in the natural law and natural rights tradition that is an important …

Paired-End Sequence Mapping Detects Extensive Genomic Rearrangement And Translocation During Divergence Of Francisella Tularensis Subsp. Tularensis And Francisella Tularensis Subsp. Holarctica Populations, Michael P. Dempsey, Joseph Nietfeldt, Jaques Ravel, Steven H. Hinrichs, Robert Crawford, Andrew K. Benson

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Comparative genome hybridization of the Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis and F. tularensis subsp. holarctica populations have shown that genome content is highly conserved, with relatively few genes in the F. tularensis subsp. tularensis genome being absent in other F. tularensis subspecies. To determine if organization of the genome differs between global populations of F. tularensis subsp. tularensis and F. tularensis subsp. holarctica, we have used paired-end sequence mapping (PESM) to identify regions of the genome where synteny is broken. The PESM approach compares the physical distances between paired-end sequencing reads of a library of a wild-type reference F. tularensis …

Determination Of Diphacinone Residues In Hawaiian Invertebrates, Thomas M. Primus, Dennis J. Kohler, John J. Johnston

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A reversed-phase ion-pair liquid chromatographic analysis combined with a solid-phase extraction clean-up method is used to assess the quantity of diphacinone residue found in invertebrates. Three invertebrate species are exposed to commercially available diphacinone-fortified bait used for rat control. The invertebrate samples are collected, frozen, and shipped to the laboratory. The samples are homogenized after cryogenic freezing. A portion of the homogenized samples are extracted with acidified chloroform–acetone, followed by cleanup with a silica solid-phase extraction column. Diphacinone is detected by UV absorption at 325 nm after separation by the chromatographic system. The method limit of detection (MLOD) for snail …

Developing And Extending Sustainable Agriculture: A New Social Contract, Michele Schoeneberger, Gary Bentrup, Charles A. Francis, Richard Straight

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Conclusions

Based on the practical community applications of woody buffe rs and multifuncti onal areas that grew from the ini tial concepts ofecobelts. we are convinced that this type of initiative is a viable option in establishing a positive interface between different types of human activities. The challenge becomes more real every day, as cities expand and both city-edge subdivisions and acreages create ever more interfaces between people with different and often con!1icting activities and basic values. There is a need to provide some logical and acceptable boundary between these people and their different lifestyles. It is also desirable to …