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Vascular Plants Of The Caribou-Targhee National Forest And Curlew National Grassland In Southeastern Idaho, Western Wyoming, And Northern Utah, Michael Daines

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Due to a historical paucity of collections from and the absence of a comprehensive floristic treatment for parts of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and Curlew National Grassland, an updated inventory for the area was needed. I present an annotated checklist of the vascular plants documented from the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and Curlew National Grassland. A total of new 3189 voucher specimens were collected for this project in 2021 and 2022. To compile the annotated checklist, I consulted both newly collected specimens and specimen data from online botanical databases. A total of 1557 taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, and hybrids), 1423 species …

Fun Azores: A Functional Trait Database For The Meio-, Macro-, And Megafauna From The Azores Marine Park (Mid-Atlantic Ridge), Neus Campanyà-Llovet, Amanda E. Bates, Daphne Cuvelier, Eva Giacomello, Diana Catarino, Andrew J. Gooday, Björn Berning, Blanca Figuerola, Manuel A. E. Malaquias, Carlos J. Moura, Joana R. Xavier, Tracey Sutton, Laurence Fauconnet, Sofia P. Ramalho, Bárbara De Moura Neves, Gui M. Machado, Tammy Horton, Andrey V. Gebruk, Kirill Minin, Joël Bried, Tina Molodtsova, Mónica A. Silva, Anna Dilman, Antonina Kremenetskaia, Eudriano F. S. Costa, Jameson Clarke, Helen R. Martins, Christopher K. Pham, Marina Carreiro-Silva, Ana Colaço

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Trait-based approaches that complement taxonomy-based studies have increased in popularity among the scientific community over the last decades. The collection of biological and ecological characteristics of species (i.e., traits) provides insight into species and ecosystem vulnerability to environmental and anthropogenic changes, as well as ecosystem functioning. Here, we present the FUN Azores trait database, describe our approach, evaluate its scope, compare it to other marine trait databases, and explore the spatial distribution of its traits with “functional maps.” While most of the available trait databases to date contain essential information to understand the functional diversity of a taxonomic or functional …

A Special Place, Tallgrass Prairie Center, University Of Northern Iowa

Open Educational Resources

Lesson adapted form the book Keepers of the Earth : Native American stories and environmental activities for children by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac focusing on developing a relationship with the natural environment for grades Kindergarten through 2.

Teaching Spatial Data Analysis: A Case Study With Recommendations, Duncan J. Mayer, Robert L. Fischer

Faculty Scholarship

Learning from data is a valuable skill for nonprofit professionals and researchers. Often, data have a spatial component, and data relevant to the nonprofit sector are no exception. Understanding spatial aspects of the nonprofit sector may provide immense value to social entrepreneurs, funders, and policy makers, by guiding programmatic decisions, facilitating resource allocation, and development policy. As a result, spatial thinking has become an essential component of critical thinking and decision making among nonprofit professionals. The goal of this case study is to support and encourage instruction of spatial data analysis and spatial thinking in nonprofit studies. The case study …

Assessing Ecological Relationships Among Late Triassic Vertebrates In Petrified Forest National Park, Alexandra Davis Apgar

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The complex vertebrate ecosystem of the Late Triassic has not yet been fully understood, largely due to oversimplification of hypothesized trophic hierarchies and limited preservation of direct evidence of faunal interaction. Paleocommunity reconstruction attempts can also fall victim to taphonomic biases, time-averaging inaccuracies, and non-analogue paleoecologies. Utilizing a combination of PAIRS analysis and NMDS ordination, we highlight vertebrate faunal relationships within the Adamanian and Revueltian faunachrons of Petrified Forest National Park, assess the likelihood that these patterns have ecological rather than preservational drivers, and examine how these potential interactions may have been impacted by the Adamanian-Revueltian turnover event. We are …

An Observed Increase In Cardiovascular And Respiratory-Disease Related Hospitalizations And Mortality In An Area Surrounding A Hazardous Waste Thermal Treatment Plant, Liana Isabelle Dela Torre Baconguis

LSU Master's Theses

Particulate matter (PM) pollution is highly correlated with respiratory and cardiovascular disease incidence. The generation of oxidative stress is a major way by which PM can damage the body. Environmentally persistent free radical-containing PM are generated by combustion processes and are capable of exerting increased damage on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems due to their ability to remain stable and regenerate reactive oxygen species for up to five years. Clean Harbors, LLC operates a thermal treatment plant near the city of Colfax, LA in Central Louisiana. Its regular open burning of explosives causes disturbances to the community, such as loud …

All That Is Cyber Melts Into Control: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Cybernetic Metaphors, Cem İsmail Addemir

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis historicizes and interprets the logic of cybernetics as a communication technology and how it shaped notions of control in the mid-20th century. To situate my analysis, I focus on cybernetics, the tradition within communication studies that focuses on controlling communication through the application of feedback loops to a particular system. Since the discovery and popularization of cybernetics by the late 1950s, its central logic has been widely applied to computational technology and influenced future systems theories. Specifically, my thesis employs a rhetorical examination of cybernetic metaphors through metaphor criticism to trace the genealogy of cybernetic discourses that I …

Impact Of Forest Management On Ozark Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus Townsendii Ingens) Prey And Foraging Ecology, Gemma L. Marsh

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Ozark big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens) are an endangered species of bat found only in Oklahoma and Arkansas. I conducted a study on the impact of forest management treatments, such as prescribed fire and mechanical thinning, in White Rock Mountain Wildlife Management Area, which is home to a maternity colony of Ozark big-eared bats. My goal was to understand how prescribed fire and mechanical thinning influence Ozark big-eared bat prey and foraging, and therefore be able to provide management recommendations for the habitat of this endangered species. My results indicated that bat prey availability was influenced by forest structure, …

Effect Of Total Population, Population Density And Weighted Population Density On The Spread Of Covid-19 In Malaysia, Hui Shan Wong, Md Zobaer Hasan, Omar Sharif, Azizur Rahman

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Since November 2019, most countries across the globe have suffered from the disastrous consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic which redefined every aspect of human life. Given the inevitable spread and transmission of the virus, it is critical to acknowledge the factors that catalyse transmission of the disease. This research investigates the relation of the external demographic parameters such as total population, population density and weighted population density on the spread of Covid-19 in Malaysia. Pearson correlation and simple linear regression were utilized to identify the relation between the population-related variables and the spread of Covid-19 in Malaysia using data from …

Circadian Disruption And Colorectal Cancer Incidence In Black Women, Lauren E Barber, Trang Vopham, Laura F White, Hemant K Roy, Julie R Palmer, Kimberly A Bertrand

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Animal and experimental studies suggest circadian disruption increases colorectal cancer risk, but evidence in humans is limited. We examined night shift work, chronotype, and residential position within a time zone, proxies for circadian disruption, in relation to colorectal cancer risk.

METHODS: Participants in the Black Women's Health Study, a prospective cohort of 59,000 Black American women established in 1995, reported history of night shift work and chronotype on follow-up questionnaires. Residential position within a time zone was estimated using participant addresses at each questionnaire cycle. Number of colorectal cancer cases and follow-up duration varied by analysis depending on timing …

Association Between Historical Neighborhood Redlining And Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Us Veterans With Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Diseases, Salil V. Deo, Issam Motairek, Khurram Nasir, Amgad Mentias, Yakov Elgudin, Salim S. Virani, Sanjay Rajagopalan, Sadeer Al-Kindi

Office of the Provost

Importance: In the 1930s, the government-sponsored Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) established maps of US neighborhoods that identified mortgage risk (grade A [green] characterizing lowest-risk neighborhoods in the US through mechanisms that transcend traditional risk factors to grade D [red] characterizing highest risk). This practice led to disinvestments and segregation in neighborhoods considered redlined. Very few studies have targeted whether there is an association between redlining and cardiovascular disease.
Objective: To evaluate whether redlining is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in US veterans.
Design, setting, and participants: In this longitudinal cohort study, US veterans were followed up (January 1, 2016, …

Trends And Seasonality Of Emergency Department Visits And Hospitalizations For Suicidality Among Children And Adolescents In The Us From 2016 To 2021, Youngran Kim, Trudy Millard Krause, Scott D Lane

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: The detection of seasonal patterns in suicidality should be of interest to clinicians and US public health officials, as intervention efforts can benefit by targeting periods of heightened risk.

OBJECTIVES: to examine recent trends in suicidality rates, quantify the seasonality in suicidality, and demonstrate the disrupted seasonality patterns during the spring 2020 COVID-19-related school closures among US children and adolescents.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This population-based, descriptive cross-sectional study used administrative claims data from Optum's deidentifed Clinformatics Data Mart Database. Participants included children aged 10 to 12 years and adolescents aged 13 to 18 years who were commercially insured …

Association Between Historical Neighborhood Redlining And Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Us Veterans With Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Diseases, Salil V Deo, Issam Motairek, Khurram Nasir, Amgad Mentias, Yakov Elgudin, Salim S Virani, Sanjay Rajagopalan, Sadeer Al-Kindi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Importance: In the 1930s, the government-sponsored Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) established maps of US neighborhoods that identified mortgage risk (grade A [green] characterizing lowest-risk neighborhoods in the US through mechanisms that transcend traditional risk factors to grade D [red] characterizing highest risk). This practice led to disinvestments and segregation in neighborhoods considered redlined. Very few studies have targeted whether there is an association between redlining and cardiovascular disease.

Objective: To evaluate whether redlining is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in US veterans.

Design, setting, and participants: In this longitudinal cohort study, US veterans were followed up (January 1, 2016, …

The Association Of Sex Ratio On Suicide Rates In United States Counties: An Exploration Of Mechanisms, Kristin Snopkowski, Hallie Turner

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Researchers have long puzzled over suicidal behavior. In this paper, we posit that when people are unable to attract mates given unfavorable sex ratios, suicide rates increase. Sex ratio, the proportion of males in a population, is linked to a variety of behaviors, including marriage stability, violence, depression, and infidelity. We test whether suicide rates are associated with county-level sex ratios utilizing data from 1999 to 2018, controlling for a variety of factors known to be associated with suicide risk. We find that sex ratio is associated with suicide rates, where a greater proportion of males in a county (age …

Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus Connectivity With The Dorsomedial Subsystem Of Default Network Tracks Real-World Conversation Behaviour, Dhaval M. Bhatt

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Social interactions are multifaceted, complex, and critical to social behaviour as they help gather information, develop social connections, and regulate social behaviour (Lakey & Orehek, 2011; Testard et al., 2021; Jolly & Chang, 2021). Among social interactions, conversations find a special place for humans due to the nuances associated with language, conversational behaviour (e.g., gestures), and context (e.g., where conversations occur and what is discussed). Researchers have studied aspects of single conversation behaviour, content related to conversations, and brain function (Sievers et al., 2020). However, little is known about the brain function of densely-sampled in-person conversation behaviour. Filling this gap …

Growing South Dakota (Summer 2023), College Of Agriculture, Food And Environmental Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

3 SDSU Little International Celebrates 100 years of Tradition
7 2023 CAFES Celebration of Faculty Excellence
11 South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station Locations and Research Initiatives
15 Every Acre Counts
16 Undergraduate Research
19 Tanner Sloan: South Dakota State Wrestler & Animal Science Student Takes Home NCAA Division I & U23 World Silver Medals
21 2023 CAFES Outstanding Seniors
23 Robert Streeter: International Advocate for Wildlife Conservation
25 Collegiate Cattlemen's Club
27 Jim and Melody Mielke: Lifelong Donors Contribute to Agriculture in More Ways than One
29 Jackrabbits Now and Then

Assessing Monkeyface Prickleback Cebidichthys Violaceus As An Emerging Aquaculture Species In California, Matthew Hoehn

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In the context of global seafood demand and the pressing need for sustainable aquaculture practices, identifying and developing new species for aquaculture is of paramount importance. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the reproductive behavior and embryological development of the monkeyface prickleback (Cebidichthys violaceus), an emerging aquaculture species in California. The species exhibits several desirable traits for aquaculture, including herbivory, sedentary behavior, high tolerance to environmental extremes, high fillet-to-carcass ratios, and product similarity to high-value, less sustainable fishes such as unagi. Since very little reproductive behavior was available at the start of these studies the experiments were designed on …

Association Between Sars-Cov-2 Variants And Frequency Of Acute Symptoms: Analysis Of A Multi-Institutional Prospective Cohort Study-December 20, 2020-June 20, 2022., Ralph C, Wang, Michael Gottlieb, Juan Carlos C. Montoy, Robert M. Rodriguez, Huihui Yu, Erica S. Spatz, Christopher W. Chandler, Joann G. Elmore, Paavali A. Hannikainen, Anna Marie Chang, Mandy Hill, Ryan M. Huebinger, Ahamed H. Idris, Katherine Koo, Shu-Xia Li, Samuel Mcdonald, Graham Nichol, Kelli N. O'Laughlin, Ian D. Plumb, Michelle Santangelo, Sharon Saydah, Kari A. Stephens, Arjun K. Venkatesh, Robert A. Weinstein

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

Background: While prior work examining severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern focused on hospitalization and death, less is known about differences in clinical presentation. We compared the prevalence of acute symptoms across pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron.

Methods: We conducted an analysis of the Innovative Support for Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infections Registry (INSPIRE), a cohort study enrolling symptomatic SARS-CoV-2-positive participants. We determined the association between the pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron time periods and the prevalence of 21 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) acute symptoms.

Results: We enrolled 4113 participants from December 2020 to June 2022. Pre-Delta vs Delta …

Feeding Habits And Diet Composition Of The African Sacred Ibis In Selected Water-Logged Sites In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Jared S. Bakuza, Joyce Ndinadyo

Tanzania Journal of Science

The African Sacred Ibises Threskiornis aethiopicus are generalist birds that feed on many invertebrates and some vertebrates. However, the diet composition of local T. aethiopicus populations in wetland areas in Dar es Salaam Tanzania was unknown. Sacred Ibises from eight water-logged areas in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania were studied to determine their feeding habits and diet composition using direct observations and molecular analysis of faecal samples. Snails species identified from sites frequented by T. aethiopicus included Lymnaea natalensis (61.62%), Melanoides tuberculatus (20.64%), Bulinus sp. (17.66%) and Anisus sp. (0.08%), while molecular analysis of the birds’ diet revealed presence of …

Revisiting Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus Longaeva) In The Stansbury Mountains, Utah, David R. Burchfield, Otto W. De Groff, Matthew F. Bekker, Stanley G. Kitchen, Steven L. Petersen

Western North American Naturalist

Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D.K. Bailey) presence in the Stansbury Mountains of north-central Utah has been reported prior to the year 2020, but these reports lack adequate population characterization and the delineation of distinct stands of trees. In summer 2020, we identified and documented the presence of 5 separate stands of bristlecone pine in the Stansbury Mountains. These stands are removed from the nearest bristlecone populations in other mountain ranges by a distance of approximately 120 km; as such, they represent a unique outlier population of the species. We used GPS data to create a geographic information …

Ecology And Retribution: Blake, Tokarczuk, And Animal Rights, Kristina Isaak Powell

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's 2008 novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, engages with William Blake's life and his writings on animal welfare and speaks to current conversations about multispecies justice in the environmental humanities. It argues, first, that in recognizing how this novel's protagonist, Janina, selectively reads Blake to rationalize retributive justice, readers should resist a tendency to mistake this character for Tokarczuk's ideal advocate for environmental ethics. Secondly, it asserts that legal scholars' division between retributive and restorative justice offers valuable framework for approaching both this novel and ongoing debates about …

Conceptualizing And Operationalizing Community Resilience: A Scoping Review Of The Social And Health Sciences Literature, Rebecca J. Phillips, Oliver W.J. Beer, Arati Maleku

School of Health Professions

No abstract provided.

Nutrient-Rich Submarine Groundwater Discharge Increases Algal Carbon Uptake In A Tropical Reef Ecosystem, Florybeth Flores La Valle, Julian M. Jacobs, Florence I. Thomas, Craig E. Nelson

All Faculty Open Access Publications

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) in high volcanic islands can be an important source of freshwater and nutrients to coral reefs. High inorganic nutrient content is generally thought to augment primary production in coastal systems but when this is delivered via a freshwater vector as is the case with SGD in this study, the effects on productivity are unclear. In the current literature, there is limited evidence for a direct association between SGD and primary productivity of reefs. To elucidate the response of primary productivity to SGD, we conducted spatially and temporally explicit in situ benthic chamber experiments on a reef …

Development Of A Ddpcr Multiplex To Measure The Immune Response To Borrelia Burgdorferi., Kailey Marie Mccain

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Zoonotic diseases account for a significant proportion of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), with their dynamics being heavily influenced by the environment. While the effects of the environment on population-level disease dynamics have been extensively studied, there is limited research investigating the impact of the environment on individual-level disease susceptibility and transmission. This study aims to fill this gap by creating a tool to examine the variation in immune response to Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme Disease, in two competent host species, Peromyscus leucopus and Peromyscus maniculatus. Two triplex droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) assays were developed to …

A Study In Cuba Of The Biology, Ecology And Agroecological Management Of Heteropsylla Cubana Crawford In Leucaena Leucocephala (Lam.) De Wit, N. Valenciaga, M. Felicia Díaz, T. E. Ruíz, M. Fernández, C. Mora

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

As a consequence of the increase in Leucaena leucocephala areas to counter the shortage of feed in Cuban cattle production, there is a risk of the development of Heteropsylla cubana Crawford (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) as a pest in silvopastoral systems with this legume. This psyllid is known to be the main phytophagous pest (Valenciaga, 2003), which produces damage in 95% of the apical region of branches. Since information on the identification and biology of a pest species is a necessary prerequisite for its management, a taxonomic, biological and ecological study was conducted to define Heteropsylla behaviour in Cuban conditions and elaborate …

Patterns Of Species Richness And Turnover In Endemic Amphibians Of The Guineo-Congolian Rainforest., Lotanna M. Nneji, Josué A.R. Azevedo, Oyetola O. Oyebanji, Liang Ma, Paul R. Elsen, Gabriel Salako, Robert Puschendorf, Robert M. Pringle

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Aim: The African Guineo-Congolian (GC) region is a global biodiversity hotspot with high species endemism, bioclimatic heterogeneity, complex landscape features, and multiple biogeographic barriers. Bioclimatic and geographic variables influence global patterns of species richness and endemism, but their relative importance varies across taxa and regions and is poorly understood for many faunas. Here, we test the hypoth-esis that turnover in endemic amphibians of the GC biodiversity hotspot is influenced mainly by the geographic distance between grid cells and secondarily by rainfall- and temperature- related variables.Location: West and Central Africa.Major Taxa Studied: Amphibians.Methods: We compiled species-occurrence records via field sampling, online …

The Association Between Drought Exposure And Respiratory-Related Mortality In The United States From 2000 To 2018, Yeongjin Gwon, Yuanyuan Ji, Jesse E. Bell, Azar M. Abadi, Jesse D. Berman, Austin Rau, Ronald D. Leeper, Jared Rennie

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Climate change has brought increasing attention to the assessment of health risks associated with climate and extreme events. Drought is a complex climate phenomenon that has been increasing in frequency and severity both locally and globally due to climate change. However, the health risks of drought are often overlooked, especially in places such as the United States, as the pathways to health impacts are complex and indirect. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the effects of monthly drought exposure on respiratory mortality for NOAA climate regions in the United States from 2000 to 2018. A two-stage model …

Incorporating Resilience When Assessing Pandemic Risk In The Arctic: A Case Study Of Alaska, Sweta Tiwari, Andrey Petrov, Nino Mateshvili, Michele Devlin, Nikolay Golosov, Marya Rozanova-Smith, Mark Welford, John Degroote, Tatiana Degai, Stanislav Ksenofontov

Faculty Publications

The discourse on vulnerability to COVID-19 or any other pandemic is about the susceptibility to the effects of disease outbreaks. Over time, vulnerability has been assessed through various indices calculated using a confluence of societal factors. However, categorising Arctic communities, without considering their socioeconomic, cultural and demographic uniqueness, into the high and low continuum of vulnerability using universal indicators will undoubtedly result in the underestimation of the communities' capacity to withstand and recover from pandemic exposure. By recognising vulnerability and resilience as two separate but interrelated dimensions, this study reviews the Arctic communities' ability to cope with pandemic risks. In …

Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterium Correlation With Geochemical Characteristics Of Soil And Basalt In Hawaii, Leeza Marie Wells

Theses and Dissertations

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) cause opportunistic lung disease though environmental exposure pathways. Among the United States, Hawaii has a significantly higher infection rate. Preliminary studies have shown certain environmental factors, such as phosphorus and other select soil geochemical characteristics, to be statistically significant to NTM occurrence. However, a model to predict NTM occurrence based on soil geochemistry had yet to be attempted. A selection of 40 NTM positive and 40 NTM negative soils from Oahu were selected for a geochemical analysis to search for possible correlations to mineralogy and elemental abundances that may promote, or inhibit, NTM growth in the environment. …

4 Honored With Provost's Awards For Faculty Excellence, Staff

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No abstract provided.