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Reproductive Biology Of The Coyote (Canis Latrans): Integration Of Behavior And Physiology, Debra Anne Carlson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wild Canis species possess a unique suite of reproductive traits including social monogamy, copulatory lock/tie, and biparental care. Females are seasonally monestrous and experience an obligatory pseudopregnancy after spontaneous ovulation. While these characteristics have been ascribed to coyotes, an integrated profile of behavior and physiology has not yet been described. In this study, temporal correlations between steroid hormone levels and socio-sexual mating behaviors were documented, as were changes in vaginal epithelium. Pseudopregnancy was compared to pregnancy by contrasting hormone (progesterone, estradiol, prolactin and relaxin) profiles of unmated females to patterns obtained in alternate years when they bred. Meanwhile, social interactions …

Biol 4172 Course Proposal 04/23/2008, Curriculum Committee

Curriculum Committee Reports

No abstract provided.

Biology 2008 Apr Self-Study & Documents, University Of New Mexico

UNM Academic Program Review

UNM Biology APR self-study report, review team report, response to review report, and initial action plan for Spring 2008, fulfilling requirements of the Higher Learning Commission.

The University Of Texas At Tyler Magazine (Spring 2008), University Of Texas At Tyler

UT Tyler Magazine

This edition of UT Tyler Magazine includes: President's Letter; Around Campus: Palestine Campus Expansion Campaign, First Ph.D. Program Approved, Creative Effort for Hunger Relief, Cyber Security Institute, McCoy Names UT Tyler Registrar, Ensuring Timely Graduation, Garland Scholars Honored, Biology Professor Receives Grant, Honor Society for Greek Leaders; A Passion Shared, Dr. Jill Blondin Inspires Students to Explore the History in Art; For the sake of a Child, ESL Educator Devotes Life to Student Success; Fervent Supporters, Constant Friends, Dr. Jim and Bonna Bess Vaughn Help Build Excellence at UT Tyler; Coach of Champions, Kenny Jones Establishes Tradition of Winning; Journey …

Analysis Of The Psychometric Properties Of Two Different Concept-Map Assessment Tasks, Kenneth James Plummer

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to make sense of a wide array of stimuli presupposes the human tendency to organize information in a meaningful way. Efforts to assess the degree to which students organize information meaningfully have been hampered by several factors including the idiosyncratic way in which individuals represent their knowledge either with words or visually. Concept maps have been used as tools by researchers and educators alike to assist students in understanding the conceptual interrelationships within a subject domain. One concept-map assessment in particular known as the construct-a-map task has shown great promise in facilitating reliable and valid inferences from student …

Peer Review In An Undergraduate Biology Curriculum: Effects On Students’ Scientific Reasoning, Writing And Attitudes, Briana Eileen Timmerman

Faculty Publications

Scientific reasoning and writing skills are ubiquitous processes in science and therefore common goals of science curricula, particularly in higher education. Providing the individualized feedback necessary for the development of these skills is often costly in terms of faculty time, particularly in large science courses common at research universities. Past educational research literature suggests that the use of peer review may accelerate students’ scientific reasoning skills without a concurrent demand on faculty time per student. Peer review contains many elements of effective pedagogy such as peer-peer collaboration, repeated practice at evaluation and critical thinking, formative feedback, multiple contrasting examples, and …

Biol 4221 Course Proposal, Curriculum Committee

Curriculum Committee Reports

No abstract provided.

The George-Anne, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne

• Aggravated Assault Crimes on the Rise in Statesboro
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Biological Sciences Learning Center Fourth Annual Haunted Halloween Trail, Biological Sciences Learning Center

Teacher Resource Documents

No abstract provided.

Ua1c7 Departmental Photos, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Images showing everyday activities of university departments.

Community Social Interactive Processes And Rural Adolescents’ Educational Outcomes: What We Know And What We Need To Know, Omolola A. Adedokun, Mark A. Balschweid

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

The low educational outcomes of rural adolescents have long been a subject of research among educational and social researchers. In particular, extant studies have explained the high rates of high school dropout and low rates of college completion among rural adolescents mainly in terms of the structural and economic disadvantages associated with rural life. However, more recent research have employed social capital theory to show that rural adolescents‟ educational outcomes are shaped not only by the structural elements of their communities, but, also importantly by the dynamics of the social interactive processes taking place within this social environment. The present …

Estimation Of Jollyville Plateau Salamander (Eurycea Tonkawae) Populations Using Surface Counts And Mark-Recapture, Lisa O'Donnell, Andy Gluesenkamp, Chris Herrington

KIP Data Sets and Technical Reports

"The Jollyville Plateau salamander (Eurycea tonkawae) is a perennibranchiate salamander found only in springs, spring runs, and subterranean streams in the Northern Edwards Aquifer northwest of Austin, Texas. This species is currently a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act due to threats from urban development throughout its limited range and corresponding negative trends in surface counts at several long-term monitoring sites. During 2007, the City of Austin initiated markrecapture surveys of E. tonkawae populations at three spring sites and has compared the results with surface count surveys, which have been conducted as part of a long-term monitoring program …

A System For Automating The Interpretation Of Analytical Ultracentrifuge Data, Bradley W. Langhorst

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to accelerate the development of knowledge about protein associations, further improvements to acquisition, sharing, and analysis of Analytical Ultracentrifugation (AU) data must be made. XML data formats have been defined to allow complete exchange of the information associated with an AU experiment. Extensible formats to record solution identity, instrument setup parameters, acquired data, and analysis of that data have been developed. A normalized relational database to allow storage and searching of this data has also been created. A computer program called PANDaS (Protein Association Network Data Server) was built to interact with any software conforming to the data …

Differentially Expressed Genes In Aortic Cells From Atherosclerosis-Resistant And Atherosclerosis-Susceptible Pigeons, Janet Lynn Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations

Representational Difference Analysis (RDA) was used to identify genes that were differentially expressed between White Carneau (WC) and Show Racer (SR) pigeon aortic smooth muscle cells. The gene(s) responsible for atherosclerotic resistance in cultured SR smooth muscle cells (SMC) were hypothesized to be silent or down regulated in the WC. In the reciprocal experiments, it was hypothesized that the gene(s) contributing to the spontaneous atherosclerotic phenotype in cultured WC SMC would not be expressed in the SR.

Total RNA was extracted from primary cultured cells of each breed, converted to cDNA, and compared in four reciprocal RDA experiments. Seventy-four transcripts …

Understanding Polyamine Metabolism Through Transgenic Manipulation In Poplar Suspension Cultures, Sridev Mohapatra

Doctoral Dissertations

Polyamines are low molecular weight aliphatic amines that are obligatory requirements for cell survival and growth. The commonly occurring polyamines in plants are putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. Suspension cultures of poplar (Populus nigra x maximowiczii), transformed with a mouse ornithine decarboxylase gene (under the control of a 2X 35S CaMV promoter) were used to study the impact of up-regulation of putrescine biosynthesis (and consequent enhanced catabolism) on several aspects of cellular metabolism. The transgenic cells were compared with a control cell line that was transformed with the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene.

It was observed that enhanced putrescine metabolism resulted in: (i) …

Evaluation Of An Enhanced Magneto-Chemical Process For The Removal Of Pathogens In Wastewater, Christine N. Wright

Doctoral Dissertations

New wastewater treatment technologies are a necessity as a result of increasingly stringent discharge standards, particularly concerning viruses. The traditional approach to wastewater treatment consists of biological treatment, such as trickling filters, biofilms, and activated sludge. Although these biological processes have been an adequate means of wastewater treatment, they are intrinsically limited by their biological nature. A magneto-chemical process, known as CoMag(TM), has been developed to improve coagulation and solids separation and expand upon conventional wastewater treatment techniques.

The research objective of this project was to develop and evaluate a bench-scale model of the CoMag(TM) process for the removal of …

Systematics And Taxonomy Of Polyclad Flatworms With A Special Emphasis On The Morphology Of The Nervous System, Sigmer Y. Quiroga

Doctoral Dissertations

In a first survey of the Colombian polyclad fauna, a total of 25 species were collected from the rocky littoral of the Tayrona National Park, Santa Marta, Colombia and deposited at the Museo de Historia Natural Marina del INVEMAR. Six species represented first records for Caribbean region. Furthermore, a new combination Phrikoceros mopsus nov. comb, was proposed, and a possible new species of Pleioplana Faubel, 1983 was found. In addition, a new polyclad family Anocellidae was erected and four deep-sea species were described; two species from the North Pacific Ocean, Anocellidus profundus gen. nov. sp. nov. and Oligocladus voightae sp. …

Comparative Embryology And Muscle Development Of Polyclad Flatworms (Platyhelminthes: Rhabditophora), Diana Marcela Bolanos

Doctoral Dissertations

Polyclads belong to the phylum Platyhelminthes, lineage Rhabdotophora, are simple Bilateria, and represent an interesting and useful group for research in developmental biology. Although polyclads, together with catenulids and macrostomids, have been argued to be most closely related to the ancestral flatworm and hold the key to understand the relationship between development and evolution, knowledge of their embryonic development is still scarce and most of the work on spiralian development has focused on mollusks and annelids. In view of polyclad embryonic significance, a comparative study of their embryonic development including several species of direct and indirect developers was performed.

Developing …

Identification And Characterization Of Protein Phosphatase 2a Mutants In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Enhua Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

Reversible protein phosphorylation is a highly regulated process that affects almost all cellular activities. Phosphorylation involves two groups of enzymes: protein kinases and protein phosphatases. Considering the central role of these enzymes in cells, elucidating their function is extremely important. My research focuses on protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) C subunits. PP2A is one of the most abundant types of serine/threonine phosphatases in all eukaryotic cells. Compared with animals, PP2A function is not well known in plants. Early studies using protein phosphatase inhibitors are not useful to demonstrate the function of individual PP2A subunits. A reverse genetic approach can be helpful …

Survival Strategies Of Eelgrass In Reduced Light, Caroline A. Ochieng

Doctoral Dissertations

Light reduction due to anthropogenic impacts is the most widespread cause of worldwide decline of eelgrass, an ecologically important marine angiosperm whose role in supporting overall coastal ecosystem productivity has been widely recognized. Understanding eelgrass plant and meadow responses to light reduction has therefore received significant research interest over the last 30 years, while managers have sought tools to identify critical thresholds for light availability and predict impacts of human-induced disturbances in order to prevent further eelgrass loss. In the present thesis, a review of some of the literature on light reduction and its effects on eelgrass (i) summarized the …

The Development Of A Modular Integrated Recirculating Aquaculture System Using Porphyra (Nori) For The Bioremediation Of Marine Finfish Effluent, Jennifer Pauline Day

Doctoral Dissertations

It is crucial for the development of the fish aquaculture industry to be managed in a way that provides a reliable, long term source of products without negatively impacting the environment. The simplest form of integrated multi-tropic aquaculture (IMTA) uses a fed component (e.g. finfish) and an extractive component (e.g. seaweed) to remove the inorganic metabolites from finfish aquaculture effluent. In IMTA systems metabolic wastes become nutrients for the other cultured organisms and are incorporated into potentially valuable biomass. A demonstration-scale Modular Integrated Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (MIRAS) was constructed in a greenhouse adjacent to Great Bay Aquaculture, LLC (GBA), Newington, …

Conserving Dolphins And Fishermen: Combining Science And Local Knowledge To Reduce Cetacean Bycatch, Erika A. Zollett

Doctoral Dissertations

Bycatch is the portion of catch that is neither targeted nor retained by fishermen. It threatens the survival of many marine mammal populations globally, and it occurs in nearly every fishing gear type. Despite its widespread occurrence, observations of bycatch are rare, and scientific data on marine mammal bycatch are limited. Difficulties result in developing models that accurately depict the interactions. This study focuses on developing methodology to combine disparate data sources, specifically data from fishery observer programs and interviews of fishermen, to better understand these interactions and to identify effective mitigation measures. As a case study, this research investigates …

Williamson County Regional Habitat Conservation Plan, Environmental Consultants Swca, Smith, Robertson, Elliot, Glen, Klein & Bell, L.L.P., Prime Strategies Inc.

KIP Data Sets and Technical Reports

Williamson County, Texas, contains habitat occupied by three karst invertebrates and two bird species that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The County also contains habitat for other rare species, including at least four species of salamanders and 19 species of karst invertebrates that may be in need of conservation efforts to preclude the need for listing in the future. The presence of endangered species habitat has significantly affected both public and private development activities within Williamson County. As the County continues to grow, conflicts with …

Spawning Stock Identification Of Atlantic Cod (Gadus Morhua) In Us Waters Using Pan I And Microsatellite Genetic Markers, Timothy S. Breton

Master's Theses and Capstones

Most Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks within U.S. waters are currently in decline as a result of overexploitation and fishing pressure from commercial fisheries. A better understanding of the genetic structure of cod populations is essential to identify stocks for successful fisheries management. In this study, the genetic structure of cod from major temporally and geographically distinct spawning grounds in U.S. waters was investigated. Adult and juvenile cod were sampled from aggregations within the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and southern New England waters in cooperation with commercial fishermen and state fishery biologists. Caudal fin clips were collected and analyzed …

A New Perspective: Atlantic Herring (Clupea Harengus) As A Case Study For Time Series Analysis And Historical Data, Emily Klein

Master's Theses and Capstones

This thesis endeavors to develop methods for the historical analysis of a specific species and location to begin understanding fishery patterns and change over time. The main goal was to develop statistical methods to address historical data and provide long-term information on fishery trends and potential relationships between the fishery and outside influences. The Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) fishery was investigated for underlying patterns and the possible impact of outside variables and events from 1870 to 2007.

In the Gulf of Maine, Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) provide critical forage for many economically valuable species, while supporting a major New England …

Optimal Science Lab Design: Impacts Of Various Components Of Lab Design On Students’ Attitudes Toward Lab, John Basey, Loren Sackett, Natalie Robinson

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Variations in science lab design can differentially impact student learning. Quantification of these differential impacts can be used in modeling – an approach we term “optimal lab design.” In this study we estimated relative influences of six characteristics of lab design on students’ attitudes toward science labs in three different first-year college biology lab courses (USA). We used two end-of-semester surveys. The first had students choose their favorite and least favorite lab and answer questions associated with the six characteristics and their choices. The second had students provide an overall rating of each lab and a rating based on their …

Eelgrass In The Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire And Maine: Monitoring Eelgrass Decline And Educating Local Students, Nora Thompson Beem

Master's Theses and Capstones

Eelgrass monitoring efforts in the Great Bay Estuary (GBE), New Hampshire and Maine, by the New Hampshire Port Authority Mitigation Project (Chp. II) and Nutrient Pollution Indicator (NPI) testing (Chp. III) both confirmed a recent trend of eelgrass decline within the GBE. The decline has been most noticeable in the mid-estuary, where four major tributaries drain into the GBE. Eelgrass beds in proximity to Portsmouth's wastewater treatment facility have also experienced decline, highlighting the effects of such point sources on the eelgrass population.

In an effort to introduce eelgrass, its recent decline and its role in the ecology of the …

Educating The General Public About Brain Injuries, Jesse Edwards Williams

Master's Theses and Capstones

The purpose of this investigation is to determine if exposure to educational materials regarding acquired brain injuries (ABI) can have a positive impact on the attitudes and beliefs of the general public. The findings of this research will help determine the values of educating the general public and help determine future methods for educating the public about ABI.

Misconceptions about ABI are still present today. The results of this investigation demonstrate that responses significantly differed depending on what methods of instruction respondents received.

Rapid Identification Of New England Freshwater Copepods Using A Novel Genetic Barcode, Elisah B. Allan

Master's Theses and Capstones

Identification of freshwater calanoid and cyclopoid copepods is limited to adults of certain sexes because morphological keys are mostly based on mature reproductive structures, necessitating an alternate method. Genetic barcodes are an additional tool for distinguishing species using variation in short segments of DNA. I tested the utility of the 28S rDNA D3 expansion segment as a barcode for identifying five species of calanoids and five species of cyclopoids from multiple lakes from New England. Neighbor-joining trees grouped all conspecifics together with high bootstrap support, except for Leptodiaptomus minutus. Comparisons of intra- vs. interspecific variation revealed a barcode gap for …

Use Of Genetic Tagging To Estimate Abundance And Detect Spatial Patterns Of Black Bears In New Hampshire, Stephanie Coster

Master's Theses and Capstones

Abundance estimates for black bears (Ursus americanus) are an important tool for effective management. Recent advancements in DNA technology have enabled genetic tagging mark-recapture population estimates using DNA from hair samples. I conducted a population estimate using genetic tagging in 2 study sites presumed to have different bear densities in northern New Hampshire (Pittsburg and Milan). To test repeatability, I conducted the genetic tagging estimates in 2 consecutive years. I also compared these estimates to those derived from traditional methods used by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHFG) using hunter harvest and mortality data. I found that the …