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Assessment And Conservation Of Aquatic Life In The Subsurface Of The Pilbara Region, Western Australia, Harley J. Barron, James Cocking, Stefan Eberhard

KIP Talks and Conferences

To provide a framework for assessment of mine development projects in the Pilbara, as well to plan conservation of groundwater biodiversity, the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) is undertaking a five-year survey (2002 to 2007) of Pilbara stygofauna. The project aims to map regional patterns in subterranean biodiversity by sampling the range of groundwater environments that can be accessed via bores, wells, caves, springs, spring-brooks and hyporheic habitats. The first year of sampling has revealed many new stygal species, and indicate that stygofauna is abundant and widely distributed across the region, and occurs in several different aquifer types. …

Factors Restricting Recruitment Of Ascophyllum Nodosum L (Le Jolis), Paula K B Philbrick

Doctoral Dissertations

Ascophyllum nodosum dominates a wide zone on the shore. Juveniles occur high in the zone where canopy is continuous and grazing animals few. Settlement could account for the restricted range if it were enhanced under canopy or on the upper shore. Settlement was monitored under canopy and in the open at four shore levels during spring 1983. Propagules settled everywhere. Settlement does not restrict plant establishment. Germlings caged and not caged were placed under canopy and in the open through the zone to evaluate the effects of animals and the physical environment (shore level x frond cover) on survival and …

Fire Dynamics In Amazonia, Manoel Cardoso

Doctoral Dissertations

Fires are major disturbances for ecosystems in Amazonia. Because of their short time scale and strong links to biogeochemical cycles, fires significantly affect fluxes and stocks of carbon and nutrients, change air composition, and modify ecosystems structure and functioning. Fires are strongly related to land-use, land-cover and climate conditions. Because the increasing development of the region, these factors have been changing and leading to different patterns of fire activity. Thus it is very important to understand the dynamics of fires in the region and to develop models that can project their potential changes. To contribute in all these subjects, we …

Assessing Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Induced Decline And Susceptibility Using Hyperspectral Technologies, Jennifer Pontius

Doctoral Dissertations

The ultimate goal of this study was to provide the scientific framework for using narrow band hyperspectral instruments to assess early hemlock decline and susceptibility to the introduced hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). To this end, spectral data from an ASD FieldSpec Pro was used to develop a 6-term linear regression equation, which predicted a detailed decline rating (0--10) with an R2 of 0.71 and RMSE of 0.591. To scale up this method to a remote sensing platform, NASA's Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) was used to create a hemlock abundance map, correctly identifying hemlock dominated pixels (>40% basal …

A Study Of Basidiomycetes Isolated From Coarse Woody Debris And Contiguous Soil Horizons In A Mixed Deciduous-Conifer Forest In New Hampshire, United States Of America, Therese Ann Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations

The wood decay fungus Hypholoma sublateritium (Fr.) Quel., links the mineral (BC & E) and organic (Oe) soil layers to decomposing coarse woody debris (CWD) in a northern hardwood forest. This link supports the possibility that energy stored in woody debris can facilitate the vertical transfer of elements and compounds within the soil profile. This potential transfer implies new pathways for biogeochemical cycling within forests. H. sublateritium was isolated from basidiocarp fruiting bodies (October 1997 & 1998), Acer rubrum L. bole wood (June 1999), and three soil horizons (October 1999 and October 2000) from one of six research sites in …

Analysis Of Signal Output By The Ethylene Receptor Etr1 From Arabidopsis, Xiang Qu

Doctoral Dissertations

Ethylene is one of the most important plant hormones and regulates many processes during plant growth and development. In Arabidopsis, the ethylene receptor family consists of five members: ETR1 and ERS1 have a functional histidine kinase domain and form subfamily 1; members of subfamily 2, including ETR2, ERS2, and EIN4, possess a highly diverged histidine kinase domain predicted not to be functional. To analyze signal output by the ethylene receptor ETR1 from Arabidopsis, mutant-based approaches were taken. Initially, the role of the proposed signal output region of ETR1 in ethylene signaling was examined. For this purpose, the ability of mutant …

Impact Of Macular Pigment Optical Density On Photophobia Threshold, Adam James Wenzel

Doctoral Dissertations

Two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, accumulate in the central retina where they are collectively referred to as macular pigment (MP). By absorbing short-wavelength light, MP may attenuate photophobia (PP)---visual discomfort induced by normal light exposure---for targets composed of short-wavelength light. The aim of this study was twofold: first, to investigate a possible relationship between integrated macular pigment optical density (MPOD) and PP thresholds for short-wavelength targets relative to mid- to long-wavelength targets; and second, to measure changes in PP thresholds after increasing MP with lutein supplements.

MPOD was measured psychophysically at 20', 30', 60' and 120' eccentricity with a Macular …

Approach To The Identification Of Sex-Determining Genes In The Tilapia Genome By Genetic Mapping And Comparative Positional Cloning, Bo-Young Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

Tilapia (Oreochromis species) are one of the most dominant species in the aquaculture market. Genomic approaches may contribute to tilapia culture in the near future by identifying genes controlling traits valuable at the market. One of the most important traits for farming of tilapia is sex because monosex culture shows the best efficiency of culture. In tilapia, however, the mechanisms of sex-determination have been poorly understood because of the variation in the genetic basis of sex-determination and the lack of morphological differences between sex chromosomes.

To facilitate QTL analysis of these traits, a genetic linkage map was constructed from hybrids …

Development Of Muscle Structure And Function In Loliginid Squids, Gabriela Maria Martinez

Doctoral Dissertations

Squid embryos are able to contract their mantle early during the embryonic period.

This dissertation examines the onset of contractile capabilities and subsequent maturation of the main locornotor structures in embryos of two species of loligind squids with a focus on the mantle musculature. The functional implications of the differentiation and organization of the musculature is investigated.

The results of these series of studies indicate that the development and emergence of functional competence of the mantle musculature in loliginid squids is a dynamic process. Differentiation and organization of the musculature of the main locomotor structures does not occur simultaneously and …

Inter-Annual And Decadal Variation In The Pelagic Marine Ecosystem Of The Yellow And East China Seas, Seung-Hyun Son

Doctoral Dissertations

The water-leaving radiance measurements and chlorophyll concentrations of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) and the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) were compared to investigate decadal trends in the Yellow and East China Seas (YECS). A unified bio-optical algorithm was derived to convert CZCS pigments to SeaWiFS chlorophyll concentrations. The conversion is applied to level-2 CZCS data.

We established monthly variations in the stratified and well-mixed areas using a coupled ocean wave-circulation model and the ocean color satellite data for estimating primary productivity in the Yellow Sea using satellite observations. The model results were compared with remotely sensed sea surface …

The Effects Of Temperature On The Physiology And Locomotory Behavior Of The American Lobster, Homarus Americanus, Suzanne M. Cooke

Doctoral Dissertations

Temperature has a pervasive influence on the physiology and behavior of all lobsters, and especially those found in habitats where temperature fluctuates the most. One population of lobsters undergoes a seasonal migration in the Great Bay estuary system in NH, entering the estuary in late spring and returning to the coast in the late summer and fall. This migration may be triggered by physiological or behavioral responses to seasonal temperature shifts.

The first set of experiments examined the effect of temperature on heart rate in order to further understand the influence of temperature on lobster metabolism. Heart rate was measured …

An Investigation Of Genetic Variation Within Northwest Atlantic Porphyra (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) With Specific Phylogeographic Analysis Of The Common, Rocky Intertidal Species, Porphyra Umbilicalis, Brian William Teasdale

Doctoral Dissertations

To investigate the phylogeography of the rocky intertidal red alga, Porphyra umbilicalis Kutzing, a restriction fragment polymorphism assay (RFLP) of the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large subunit ( rbcL) was developed to accurately distinguish P. umbilicalis from the other morphologically similar species in the North Atlantic. Initial screening of ∼800 Porphyra specimens resulted in the additional discovery of a cryptic Porphyra taxon.

The presence and variability of group-I introns of the ribosomal small subunit (SSU) were screened in North Atlantic species of Porphyra in order to assess whether they could be biogeographically informative. In an initial screening for the helix 50 …

Genetic Diversity And Structure Of Calanoid Copepods: Molecular Evolutionary Patterns In Coastal Estuaries (Acartia Tonsa) And The Open Ocean (Calanus Spp), Robert Sean Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

Calanoid copepods are an important part of marine and estuarine ecosystems. However, it has been difficult to study their life histories, population structure, and evolution because they share a conserved morphology that complicates species identification. A primary focus of this study was the genetic and physiological variation of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa from four estuaries along the East Coast of the USA (Great Bay, NH, Buzzards Bay, MA, Narragansett Bay, RI, and Beaufort Inlet, NC). Based on DNA sequence variation for the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) gene, significant population structure was observed between all pairs of estuarine populations …

Response Tier Development Document Barton Springs Salamander Catastrophic Spill Plan, Martha Turner, Lisa O'Donnell

KIP Data Sets and Technical Reports

The Barton Springs Salamander Catastrophic Spill Plan describes when and how endangered salamanders would be protected or rescued should a catastrophic spill occur in the Barton Spring watershed. The best response to any particular spill depends on a variety of factors, thus an effective spill response plan requires a method to determine thresholds that will elicit each tier of salamander rescue efforts. This plan focuses primarily on developing response tiers for gasoline, since it is considered to be the most common problematic spilled material with high toxicity and the potential for very large spills., The method developed for gasoline is …

Variability In Broods Of The Seastar Leptasterias Aequalis, William B. Jaeckle, Brian L. Bingham, Kehualani Giles

Scholarship

Enormous variation exists in the reproductive output of marine invertebrates (e.g., in the numbers of em¬bryos produced, the volumes of embryos, and the energy that they contain). It is not clear why there is such great variability or what the population-level consequences are. We sampled a population of the brooding seastar Leptasterias aequalis (Stimpson, 1862) to collect basic information on brood sizes, embryo volume, and embryo energy content with a goal to better understand the reproductive ecology of this species. We collected brooding females in February and again in April. We measured the size of their broods and sampled the …

Encounters Between Dynamic Cortical Microtubules Promote Ordering Of The Cortical Array Through Angle-Dependent Modifications Of Microtubule Behavior, Ram Dixit, Richard Cyr

Biology Faculty Research

Ordered cortical microtubule arrays are essential for normal plant morphogenesis, but how these arrays form is unclear. The dynamics of individual cortical microtubules are stochastic and cannot fully account for the observed order; however, using tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cells expressing either the MBD-DsRed (microtubule binding domain of the mammalian MAP4 fused to the Discosoma sp red fluorescent protein) or YFP-TUA6 (yellow fluorescent protein fused to the Arabidopsis alpha-tubulin 6 isoform) microtubule markers, we identified intermicrotubule interactions that modify their stochastic behaviors. The intermicrotubule interactions occur when the growing plus-ends of cortical microtubules encounter previously existing cortical microtubules. Importantly, the outcome …

The Cortical Microtubule Array: From Dynamics To Organization, Ram Dixit, Richard Cyr

Biology Faculty Research

Cortical microtubules (CMTs) are essential for normal plant morphogenesis because they affect the axes of cell elongation and predict the placement of cell division planes. The function of the CMTs is intimately linked to their organizational state, which is subject to spatial and temporal modifications by developmental and environmental cues. CMT assembly dynamics govern when, where, and how microtubules appear in a cell's cortex, and the regulation of these properties affects their organization. However, the principles that link microtubule assembly dynamics to cortical array organization and reconfiguration are not well understood. This essay focuses on recent advances in the understanding …

The Biological Basis Of Commitment: Does One Size Fit All?, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Understanding the biological roots of intimate behavior is a complex undertaking that involves the integration of evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, anthropology and sociology. Evolutionary biology describes theories that explain the persistence of certain types of behavior in terms of presumed evolutionary pressures or advantages, focusing on the human mind. Evolutionary biologists assume that behavior that maximizes the presence of associated genes in the next generation is the behavior most likely to persist. In this paper, we take the growing insights that arise from the study of the biology of attachment to frame the emerging policy choices underlying the governance …

Scale Model Of A Soil Aggregate And Associated Organisms: A Teaching Tool For Soil Ecology, Mary Anne Bruns, Loren B. Byrne

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Soil is a complex habitat for diverse biota. A significant challenge in teaching soil ecology is our inability to observe organisms as they live and interact in the soil. The objective of this article is to describe an interactive class project to help students visualize the sizes of different groups of soil organisms and to relate these to soil structural components. This project was carried out by students in an upper-level undergraduate soil ecology class. It involved the design and construction of a 4000× scale model of a soil aggregate and its associated organisms. The body of the model was …

Lawrence University Biologist Awarded $200,000 Grant For Zebra Mussel Study, Lawrence University

Press Releases

The impact of the exploding non-native zebra mussel population on the ecosystem of the bay of Green Bay will be the focus of a three-year study conducted by Lawrence University associate professor of biology Bart De Stasio starting in March 2005. The research project will be funded by a $206,000 grant De Stasio was awarded by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

A specialist in aquatic biology, especially predator-prey interactions, De Stasio will combine advanced computer modeling with field study research to determine the effects the exotic invader is having in Green Bay on the populations of phytoplankton, benthos, …

From Biology To Consciousness To Morality, Ursula Goodenough, Terrence W. Deacon

Biology Faculty Research

Social animals are provisioned with prosocial orientations that operate to transcend self-interest. Morality, as used here, describes human versions of such orientations. We explore the evolutionary antecedents of morality in the context of emergentism, giving considerable attention to the biological traits that undergird awareness and our emergent human forms of mind. We suggest that our moral frames of mind emerge from our primate prosocial capacities, transfigured and valenced by our symbolic languages, cultures, and religions.

Portions of this article were given by Deacon in a paper at the forty-ninth annual conference of IRAS, “Is Nature Enough? The Thirst for …

Woody Plant Communities Of The Iowa Loess Hills: Expansion From 1855 To 2000, Extant Composition, And Ecological Succession., Melanie I. Trecek-King

Student Work

The Loess Hills of western Iowa are a unique geologic landform historically covered by scattered bur oaks in a matrix of mixed-grass prairie. Since European settlement, however, woody plant encroachment has altered the ecosystem and presently endangers the last substantial prairies remnants in Iowa. Aerial photographs from 2000 and General Land Office field survey notes from the 1850s documented an increase in woody Plant cover from 7% in 1855 to 25% in 2000 for three centuries in the Loess Hills region of western Iowa. Woody Plant species composition along a lowland-ridge-top coenocline on both north and south aspects in centrally …

Insect Communities Of Native And Restored Wet-Mesic Tallgrass Prairies In Central Nebraska: Leafhoppers, Planthoppers, Treehoppers, And Ants., Kristine Trinette Nemec

Student Work

Insect diversity was compared between and among three native and three restored wet-mesic tallgrass prairies along the Platte River in central Nebraska in order to assess both the relative success of restorations and the relationship between insect and plant diversity. Insects were sampled using sweep nets from two transects within each prairie during early June, mid-July, and mid-August 2000. Plant species composition was assessed along each transect in early June and mid-August. A total of 71 leafhopper, 12 planthopper, 3 treehopper, and 11 ant taxa were identified, of which 20 were prairie endemic and 16 were highly remnant-dependent. Eighty-five plant …

P-Limitation Of Respiration In The Sargasso Sea And Uncoupling Of Bacteria From P-Regeneration In Size-Fractionation Experiments, Ingrid Obernosterer, Nobu Kawasaki, Ronald Benner

Faculty Publications

Community respiration rates were measured in unfiltered seawater collected in the upper 75 m of the water column along a transect in the Sargasso Sea and at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) station (31° 50’ 00 N; 64° 10’ 00 W) during a cruise in June and July 2001. Community respiration rates in the upper 75 m of the water column averaged 1.1 ± 0.4 μM O₂ d^-1 and exhibited significant spatial and temporal variability. Concurrent determination of the heterotrophic and autotrophic community revealed no relationship between community respiration and the abundance of any of the major …

Abstracts Of Papers, 81st Annual Meeting Of The Virginia Academy Of Science, May 27-30, 2003, University Of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of papers that were presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 27-30, 2003.

Inactivation Of Picornaviruses And Caliciviruses Part 1: Biology And Epidemiology, Suphachai Nuanualsuwan, Dean O. Cliver

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

Foodborne picornaviruses and human calicivirus have one molecule of linear, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA, covered by a capsid without a lipid envelope. These viruses have a spherical shape, a particle diameter of 27-40 nanometers and the triangulation (T=3) icosahedral symmetry of a capsid. The replication cycle of poliovirus (PV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) occurs in the cytoplasm of the host cell. The viral proteins are synthesized by the translation of RNA after the virus particles attach and uncoat at the host cell membrane. Major translated proteins are structural protein (capsid protein) and functional proteins e.g. proteases and RNAdependent RNA polymerase. …

The Effect Of Fire Season And Frequency On The Plant Community Of A Restored Tallgrass Prairie., Nathaniel David Birks

Student Work

The effect fire season and frequency was evaluated in 2001 at a 65 ha restored tallgrass prairie in eastern Nebraska using permanent plots established in 1978 and first evaluated in 1979. Treatments included annual and quadrennial burning in spring, summer, and fall as well as unburned plots. Overall, the number of species increased from 28 in 1979 to 30 in 2001, with a shift from ruderal to native species. Shannon diversity (H’) increased significantly across all treatments during this time. Canopy cover of grasses (+19%) and forbs (+18%) increased significantly. However, only forbs showed a significant difference among treatments in …

Direct Evidence For A Membrane Deforming Motif In Endophilin: Implications Beyond Synaptic Vesicle Recycling, Khashayar Farsad

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Effective neurotransmission is dependent on fast, reproduceable synaptic vesicle recycling. The synaptic vesicle recycling process is a complex event involving both protein-protein, as well as protein-lipid interactions. A central part of the retrieval process of synaptic vesicles lies in the ability of soluble proteins to deform the plasma membrane into a nascent bud which will eventually reform a fully competent synaptic vesicle upon fission. This process involves clathrin-coat proteins, which form a protein scaffold around the vesicle bud, as well as proteins which have more recently been thought to be involved in generating the high curvature membranes present at the …

Vernal Pools: Nature's Laboratory, Gaytha A. Langlois

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Vernal pools are described and discussed. The importance to wildlife and ecology is explained.

Microalgal-Meiofaunal Trophic Relationships In Muddy Intertidal Estuarine Sediments, James L. Pinckney, Kevin R. Carman, S. Elizabeth Lumsden, Sabrina N. Hymel

Faculty Publications

The determination of the primary factors controlling carbon (C) transfer rates in situ are a basic requirement for developing a mechanistic view of the processes that regulate benthic microbial community structure and function. In many estuarine ecosystems, the base of the food web is dominated by microalgal production; however, information on the quantitative relationships and process rates of meiofaunal grazers and benthic microalgal (BMA) producers is limited to a few habitats and short temporal scales. The primary objective of this study was to examine the trophic interactions between meiofaunal grazers and BMA producers to determine if grazing is a primary …