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A Mega-Diverse Water Beetle Genus (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae: Hydraena Kugelann) Commonly Overlooked In Southeast Asia And Its Potential Use For Environmental Biomonitoring, Hendrik Freitag

Biology Faculty Publications

This study summarizes the current knowledge of the water beetle genus Hydraena Kugelann in Southeast Asia. The surprising species diversity and endemism rates in Hydraenopsis Janssens, the only subgenus present in Southeast Asia, are discussed. Data of five published Hydraena surveys from the Philippines and Singapore are used to evaluate species richness and the occurrence of species assemblages that are subject to the presence and quality of forests. Species richness was found to be generally higher in old grown forests. Some species appeared to be confined to near-natural forests. The denomination of indicator species is impeded by adequate sampling data, …

Geospatial Analysis Of Violent Crime And Premature Mortality From Chd, Sarah Elise Conderino

Public Health Theses

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and many of these deaths are preventable. Studies have shown that neighborhood-level characteristics may contribute to health outcomes, but no study has yet examined whether neighborhood crime contributes to early mortality from CVD.

Objective: We examined geographic trends in the association between neighborhood crime rates and premature mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) using New Haven, CT USA as a model city.

Methods: Neighborhoods in New Haven were established by existing census tracts. CHD deaths were identified from the Connecticut Master Death Files and violent crime …

Minute Pirate Bug (Orius Insidiosus Say) Populations On Transgenic And Non-Transgenic Maize Using Different Sampling Techniques, Santiago A. Palizada, Bamphitlhi Tiroesele, Difabachew B. Kondidie, Muhammad Irfan Ullah, Fatima Mustafa, Thomas E. Hunt, Pete L. Clark, Jaime Molina-Ochoa, Steven R. Skoda, John E. Foster

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the populations of minute pirate bug [Orius insidiosus (Say)] using visual, sticky cards and destructive sampling techniques in transgenic and non-transgenic maize in three locations in Nebraska (Mead, Clay Center. and Concord) United States of America. during 2007 and 2008 . All sampling methods revealed significant counts of O. insidiosus on CP4 EPSPS maize plus an insecticide application for control of first generation O. nubilalis at R2 (blister) sampling period. Similarly, visual observations of O. insidiosus on Cry1Ab x Cry3Bb1 x CP4 EPSPS maize yielded significantly higher mean adult counts at R2 (blister) …

Exposure To Multiple Parasites Is Associated With The Prevalence Of Active Convulsive Epilepsy In Sub-Saharan Africa, Gathoni Kamuyu, Christian Bottomley, James Mageto, Brett Lowe, Patricia Wilkins, John C. Noh, Thomas B. Nutman, Anthony Ngugi, Rachael Odhiambo, Ryan Wagner, Angelina Kakooza-Mwesige, Seth Owusu-Agyei, Kenneth Ae-Ngibise, Honorati Masanja, Faith Osier, Peter Odermatt, Charles Newton

Family Medicine, East Africa

Background: Epilepsy is common in developing countries, and it is often associated with parasitic infections. We investigated the relationship between exposure to parasitic infections, particularly multiple infections and active convulsive epilepsy (ACE), in five sites across sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods and Findings: A case-control design that matched on age and location was used. Blood samples were collected from 986 prevalent cases and 1,313 age-matched community controls and tested for presence of antibodies to Onchocerca volvulus, Toxocara canis, Toxoplasma gondii, Plasmodium falciparum, Taenia solium and HIV. Exposure (seropositivity) to Onchocerca volvulus (OR = 1.98; 95%CI: 1.52-2.58, p

Conclusion: This study investigates how …

Exploring The Diversity Of Butterflies (Lepidoptera) At Different Elevations In Genting Highlands And The Validity Of Graphium Species In Peninsular Malaysia / Karen Chia Huey Min, Karen Huey Min Chia

Student Works (2010-2019)

Butterflies play an ecological role as pollinators, prey, defoliators and herbivores. They are in abundant and diverse in many ecosystems. However, they are serves as indicators of ecosystem change and predict environmental alternation. This study was conducted to (1) compare the attractiveness of ten types of fruit bait and make recommendations on the most efficient fruit bait types for trapping butterflies in the South East Asian tropical forest; (2) investigate how butterfly diversity is related to elevation at Genting Highlands in Peninsular Malaysia; and (3) explore the phylogenetic relationships within Graphium and the validity of Pathysa. The bait trap is …

The Community Structure Of Forensically Important Flies And Beetles On An Altitudinal Gradient On Gunung Ulu Kali, Peninsular Malaysia / Thary Bin Gazi, Thary Gazi

Student Works (2010-2019)

While present in crime scenes and succession studies, little is known about the ecology and taxonomy of forensically important necrophagus beetles. Natural gradients such as mountains were used to determine how certain groups of animals react to changes in the environment. A survey of forensically important beetles was conducted along an altitudinal gradient on Gunung Ulu Kali using pitfall trapping. The corresponding diversity of blowflies was collected in the same site. Thirty three species of beetles were recorded, with the highest species richness found in the lowland forest at 200m. The beetle and fly communities above 1000m height had less …

Archaea Diversity In The Coastal Waters Of West Peninsular Malaysia / Saw Suet Yit, Suet Yit Saw

Student Works (2010-2019)

In this study, we explored the archaea diversity in four locations (Kuala Selangor, Port Klang, Port Dickson, Sungai Muar) along the Straits of Malacca using the cloning method. Four 16S rDNA clone libraries were constructed with archaea specific primers (Arc21F and Arc958R), and in total, 1074 randomly selected clones were screened by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis using three different restriction enzymes (RsaI, CfoI, and DdeI). Majority of the sequences from three clone libraries were affiliated to Euryarchaeota whereas one clone library (Kuala Selangor) was dominated by Thaumarchaeota sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences showed high archaea diversity …

Fish And Trophic Connectivity Across Coral Reef And Mangrove Habitats Of North Eastern Langkawi Island, Peninsular Malaysia / Lau Chai Ming, Chai Ming Lau

Student Works (2010-2019)

The presence of disparate biotopes of coral reefs and mangroves in one general area is unique. These biotopes may form ecologically connected ecosystems when occurring in close proximity such as in tropical Langkawi Island, Malaysia. Connected marine biotopes can provide various ecological services to fish community such as nursery, feeding habitats and shelter. As such, this study aims to test two hypotheses regarding Langkawi’s coral reefs and mangroves 1) the biotopes are ecologically connected via habitat utilization by the fish fauna and 2) the biotopes are ecologically connected via trophic energy pathways. Gill nets and fish pots were deployed to …

Effects Of Biofilm And Gastropod Grazing On Barnacle Cyprid Settlement In A Mangrove Rehabilitation Site, Sg. Besar, Selangor, Malaysia / Wong Jin Yung, Jin Yung Wong

Student Works (2010-2019)

Biofouling by barnacles is a problem commonly encountered in mangrove replanting projects. This study examined the effect of biofilm and snail grazing on settlement of cyprids and proposed solution to control biofouling. An effective identification tool for barnacle cyprids was first built to facilitate the study as the barnacle cyprids are very difficult to identify. Several species of wild-caught barnacle cyprids from Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve waters were studied. The cyprids were identified through DNA barcoding analysis. Their morphological characters, both qualitative and quantitative, were studied and used to develop a morphology-based classification model to facilitate classification on large scale. …

Effects Of Dams On Fish And Macroinvertebrate Communities In The Vermilion River, Il, Ryan Patrick Hastings

Masters Theses

Dams are a main source of anthropogenic disturbances on river systems and can affect rivers in a variety of ways. Dams have the ability to change rivers from lotic to lentic habitats, affect sediment transportation, connectivity, water quality, linkages with wetlands and the quality of in-stream and riparian habitats. The Danville Dam was constructed in 1914 on the Vermilion River in Danville, Illinois and is becoming a safety hazard for human recreation on the Vermilion River, resulting in three deaths in the last 10 years. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources in conjunction with the city of Danville has proposed …

The Effects Of Stress Hormones On Preferences For Acoustic Signals In Female Green Treefrogs (Hyla Cinerea) And Barking Treefrogs (Hyla Gratiosa), Anna Gabriell Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ecological stressors (i.e., high predator density, low food availability) are often associated with increased variation in mate choice by females. The association between environmental stressors and variation in mate choice suggests that circulating stress hormones (i.e., glucocorticoids) may mediate such effects, but this idea remains largely unexplored. I examined how circulating glucocorticoids affect preferences for male advertisement calls in female green treefrogs, Hyla cinerea, and barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa. Specifically, I examined whether administration of corticosterone (CORT) decreases preferences for call rate and/or call duration - two acoustic features that are highly variable and characteristically under directional selection via mate …

The Marine Microbial Eukaryote Transcriptome Sequencing Project (Mmetsp): Illuminating The Functional Diversity Of Eukaryotic Life In The Oceans Through Transcriptome Sequencing, Patrick J. Keeling, Fabien Burki, Heather M. Wilcox, Bassem Allam, Eric E. Allen, Linda A. Amaral-Zettler, E. Virginia Armbrust, John M. Archibald, Arvind K. Bharti, Callum J. Bell, Bank Beszteri, Kay D. Bidle, Connor T. Cameron, Lisa Campbell, David A. Caron, Rose Ann Cattolico, Jackie L. Collier, Kathryn Coyne, Simon K. Davy, Phillipe Deschamps, Sonya T. Dyhrman, Bente Edvardsen, Ruth D. Gates, Christopher J. Gobler, Spencer J. Greenwood, Stephanie M. Guida, Jennifer L. Jacobi, Kjetill S. Jakobsen, Erick R. James, Bethany Jenkins, Uwe John, Matthew D. Johnson, Andrew R. Juhl, Anja Kamp, Laura A. Katz

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Unigov: The Indianapolis Response To Urban Sprawl, Maxwell Hackman

Graduate Thesis Collection

Unigov is one of the most significant pieces of legislation in Indianapolis and Indiana history. In the often times hostile environment of Indiana politics it is nothing short of a miracle that the leaders in the Republican Party were able to get the Unigov bill approved and have it be as successful for the city as it has been. Unigov also created a modern day political machine for the Republican Party of Indianapolis. The new city of Indianapolis under the leadership of Republican Mayors Richard Lugar and William Hudnut has earned national name recognition on the convention circuit and for …

An Integrative Approach To Understanding Host-Parasitoid Population Dynamics In Real Landscapes, James T. Cronin, John D. Reeve

Faculty Publications

Many of our advances regarding the spatial ecology of predators and prey have been attributed to research with insect parasitoids and their hosts. Host-parasitoid systems are ideal for spatial-ecological studies because of the small size of the organisms, the often discrete distribution of their resources, and the relative ease with which host mortality from parasitoids can be determined. We outline an integrated approach to studying host-parasitoid interactions in heterogeneous natural landscapes. This approach involves conducting experiments to obtain critically important information on dispersal and boundary behavior of the host and parasitoid, large-scale manipulations of landscape structure to reveal the impacts …

Causes Of Annual Reproductive Variation And Anthropogenic Disturbance In Harlequin Ducks Breeding In Glacier National Park, Montana, Warren Kevin Hansen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Annual reproductive variation is the central focus of many ecological studies. Variation in reproductive success is an important vital rate to study because it can lead to inferences about population health, extinction risk, human disturbance and habitat quality. The identification of the causes of reproductive variability can help guide conservation and management efforts of a species. In Glacier National Park, Montana I studied causes of annual reproductive variation and behavioral responses to human disturbance in a breeding population of harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). Harlequins are rare sea ducks with a Holarctic distribution and winter along rocky coast lines of North …

Making The Desert Bloom: Landscape Photography And Identity In The Owens Valley American West, Kaily A. Heitz

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes the way in which landscape photography has historically been used as a colonialist tool to perpetuate narratives of control over the American West during the mid to late 1800s. I use this framework to interrogate how these visual narratives enforced ideas about American identity and whiteness relative to power over the landscape, indigenous people and the Japanese-Americans imprisoned at Manzanar within Owens Valley, California. I argue that because photographic representation is controlled by colonist powers, images of people within the American West reinforce imperialist rhetoric that positions whiteness in control of the land; thus, white settlers used …

Atrazine In Maternal Drinking Water Supply Below The Federal Maximum Contaminant Level And Risk Of Preterm Birth, Small For Gestational Age, Cryptorchidism And Hypospadias, Daniel Rice

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The prevalence of preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), and hypospadias has been increasing for several decades in the U.S resulting in significant morbidity and mortality and direct costs to society. Drinking water provides a mechanism for prolonged chronic exposure to environmental contaminants but is one of the least assessed environmental exposures in pregnancy and birth outcomes. To test the hypothesis that maternal exposure to atrazine through drinking water during pregnancy, or one or more trimesters of gestation, is associated with an increased risk of preterm birth, small for gestational age, cryptorchidism and hypospadias a retrospective cohort study was …

Segregation And The Adaption Of Community-Based Organizations To Multiethnic Immigration In Newark And Jersey City : 1990-2010, Joseph R. Gibbons

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

As we move into the 21st century, racial and ethnic segregation remains a dominating force in American Cities. Segregated black and Hispanic communities are known to suffer not only from a lack of resources, compared to non-Hispanic white neighborhoods, but also from a distinct sense of parochial isolation. At the same time, nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) have gained an increasingly central role in providing basic services to the urban needy. As of yet, there has been no systematic study to explore how segregation impacts the operation of CBOs. This dissertation employs a mixed methods research strategy to examine CBOs in …

Convergence Of Dune Topography Among Multiple Barrier Island Morphologies, Jackie Ann Monge

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Wave-dominated and mixed tidal and wave energy barrier islands are assumed to have characteristic dune topographies that link to their macroscale form. However, there has been no systematic attempt to describe the linkage between barrier island macroscale form and dune topography. The goal of this thesis was to investigate how dune topographies correspond to a number of barrier island morphologies found along the southeastern U.S. Atlantic coast. Macroscale process-form variables were used to classify 77 islands into seven morphologic clusters. Islands from each cluster were selected and sites characteristic of the range of dune topographies within islands were characterized using …

Responses Of Carbon Isotope Ratios Of C_3 Herbs To Humidity Index In Northern China, Xianzhao Liu, Qing Su, Chaokui Li, Yong Zhang, Qing Wang

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Uncertainties would exist in the relationship between delta^{13}C values and environmental factors such as temperature, resulting in unreliable reconstruction of paleoclimates. It is therefore important to establish a rational relationship between plant delta^{13}C and a proxy for paleoclimate reconstruction that can comprehensively reflect temperature and precipitation. By measuring the delta^{13}C of a large number of C_3 herbaceous plants growing in different climate zones in northern China and collecting early reported delta^{13}C values of C_3 herbs in this study area, the spatial features of delta^{13}C values of C_3 herbs and their relationships with humidity index were analyzed. The delta^{13}C values of …

Ellenberg’S Indicator Values For Soil Nitrogen Concentration And Ph In Selected Swamp Forests In The Central Black Sea Region Of Turkey, Burak Sürmen, Hamdi̇ Güray Kutbay, Dudu Duygu Kiliç, Rena Huseyinova, Mahmut Kilinç

Turkish Journal of Botany

Ellenberg developed a system that assigns indicator scores for habitat characteristics of individual plant species. Swamp forests are highly diverse ecological communities and include different plant species, all of which have different ecological requirements. Ellenberg's indicator values (EIVs) were calculated for soil pH and nitrogen (N) concentration in some swamp forest species in the Central Black Sea region of Turkey. In this study, the EIVs for soil pH were usually similar in the swamp forest species studied, while some differences were found with respect to EIVs for soil nitrogen concentration. Tolerance values (TVs) of all of the studied species were …

Interspecific Competition Of A New Invasive Mosquito, Culex Coronator, And Two Container Mosquitoes, Aedes Albopictus And Cx. Quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae), Across Different Detritus Environments, D. A. Yee, J. F. Skiff

Faculty Publications

The mosquito Culex coronator (Dyar and Knab) (Diptera: Culicidae) has undergone rapid range expansion in the United States since 2003, with its historical distribution in the southwest expanding eastward to the Atlantic coast. Although Cx. coronator nominally use small natural aquatic habitats for development, the use of containers (e.g., tires) makes it potentially important as container invasive. To determine the potential ecological effects of Cx. coronator on resident container species, we conducted a laboratory experiment to assess its competitive ability with two common tire-inhabiting species, Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) (Diptera: Culicidae). Larvae were reared under a factorial …

Looking Forward Through The Past. Identification Of Fifty Priority Research Questions In Palaeoecology., A Seddon, A Mackay, A Baker, Et Al

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Priority question exercises are becoming an increasingly common tool to frame future agendas in conservation and ecological science. They are an effective way to identify research foci that advance the field and that also have high policy and conservation relevance. To date, there has been no coherent synthesis of key questions and priority research areas for palaeoecology, which combines biological, geochemical and molecular techniques in order to reconstruct past ecological and environmental systems on time-scales from decades to millions of years. We adapted a well-established methodology to identify 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Using a set of criteria designed …

Temporal Ecology In The Anthropocene, E. M. Wolkovich, B. I. Cook, K. K. Mclauchlan, T. J. Davies

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications

Two fundamental axes – space and time – shape ecological systems. Over the last 30 years spatial ecology has developed as an integrative, multidisciplinary science that has improved our understanding of the ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation and loss. We argue that accelerating climate change – the effective manipulation of time by humans – has generated a current need to build an equivalent framework for temporal ecology. Climate change has at once pressed ecologists to understand and predict ecological dynamics in non-stationary environments, while also challenged fundamental assumptions of many concepts, models and approaches. However, similarities between space and time, …

The Role Of Reserves And Anthropogenic Habitats For Functional Connectivity And Resilience Of Ephemeral Wetlands, Daniel R. Uden, Michelle L. Hellman, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Ecological reserves provide important wildlife habitat inmany landscapes, and the functional connectivity of reserves and other suitable habitat patches is crucial for the persistence and resilience of spatially structured populations. To maintain or increase connectivity at spatial scales larger than individual patches, conservation actions may focus on creating andmaintaining reserves and/or influencing management on non-reserves. Using a graph-theoretic approach, we assessed the functional connectivity and spatial distribution of wetlands in the Rainwater Basin of Nebraska, USA, an intensively cultivated agricultural matrix, at four assumed, but ecologically realistic, anuran dispersal distances. We compared connectivity in the current landscape to the historical …

Complexity Versus Certainty In Understanding Species’ Declines, Shana M. Sundstrom, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Aim Our understanding of and ability to predict species declines is limited, despite decades of study. We sought to expand our understanding of species declines within a regional landscape by testing models using both traditional hypotheses and those derived from a complex adaptive systems approach.

Location Our study area was the dry mixed grassland of south-eastern Alberta, Canada, one of the largest remnants of native grassland in North America, and the adjacent grassland in Saskatchewan.

Methods We used the breeding birds of the grassland to test the relationship between species declines and a suite of traits associated with decline (such …

Status Of Native Stream Fishes Within Selected Protected Areas Of The Niobrara River In Western Nebraska, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Richard H. Stasiak, George R. Cunningham, Kevin L. Pope, Mark A. Pegg

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Lotic systems within the Great Plains are characterized by highly fl uctuating conditions through both space and time. Fishes inhabiting these systems have adopted specifi c life- history strategies to survive in such environments; however, anthropogenic disturbance to prairie streams has resulted in declines and extirpation of many native stream fi shes. Terrestrial protected areas (i.e., parks and reserves) are designated to support native fl ora and fauna and, it is assumed, to provide protection to native fi shes. We assessed the presence and relative abundance of stream fi sh populations within protected areas along the Niobrara River in western …

Transgenerational Transmission Of Trauma In Second Generation Latino Children And Adolescents, Ricardo Phipps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the impact that immigration-related trauma has upon families, particularly second-generation immigrant children in the Latino-American community in the United States, and the possibility that second-generation immigrant Latinos are vulnerable to transgenerational trauma. Transgenerational trauma involves the exhibition of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in subsequent generations in families with histories of trauma exposure. Multiple linear regression was conducted to explore the existence of a correlation between PTSD and depression in second-generation Latino immigrant children and adolescents with a myriad of potentially predicting factors. Enhanced understanding of how trauma can affect the children of traumatized immigrants will add …

Isotope Turnover Rates And Diet-Tissue Discrimination In Skin Of Ex Situ Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Nicole E. Browning, Christopher Dold, Jack I-Fan, Graham A. J. Worthy

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Diet-tissue discrimination factors (Delta N-15 or Delta C-13) and turnover times are thought to be influenced by a wide range of variables including metabolic rate, age, dietary quality, tissue sampled and the taxon being investigated. In the present study, skin samples were collected from ex situ dolphins that had consumed diets of known isotopic composition for a minimum of 8 weeks. Adult dolphins consuming a diet of low fat (5-6%) and high delta N-15 value had significantly lower Delta N-15 values than animals consuming a diet with high fat (13.9%) and low delta N-15 value. Juvenile dolphins consuming a diet …

Harbouring The Enemy: Kelp Holdfasts Protect Juvenile Sea Urchins From Predatory Crabs, Colette Feehan, Fiona T Y Francis, Robert E. Scheibling

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Predation is an important agent of post-settlement mortality of sea urchins that is mediated by the availability and suitability of spatial refuges, particularly during the vulnerable juvenile stage. In laboratory and field caging experiments, we show that holdfasts of a dominant kelp, Saccharina latissima, provide a spatial refuge for juvenile sea urchins Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (<20 mm, test diameter) from crabs Cancer borealis and C. irroratus, considered to be the dominant predators of sea urchins in kelp-bed ecosystems in the northwestern Atlantic. In treatments with individual crabs of either species, the presence of holdfasts reduced predation on juvenile sea urchins by 20 to 30% compared to treatments with no refuge. Crabs consumed juveniles (from 5 to 19 mm) in each of three 5 mm size classes in proportion to their abundance, regardless of treatment. In kelp beds in St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the number of juvenile sea urchins per holdfast ranged from 0.3 to 0.9, with juveniles in holdfasts accounting for twothirds of the total urchin population density at one site. Up to 4 juveniles occurred within a single holdfast, and there was a significant positive relationship between juvenile size (but not number) and holdfast volume. Small adult sea urchins were not found within holdfasts in kelp beds and rarely occupied holdfasts presented to them in laboratory cages. Our findings indicate an ontogenetic shift in sea urchin-kelp interactions, whereby kelp facilitates recruitment of its major grazer.