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Environmental Factors' Effects On Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) Infant Populations And Health, Jenny Mcfarland Apr 2020

Environmental Factors' Effects On Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) Infant Populations And Health, Jenny Mcfarland

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Ecosystem factors, both biotic and abiotic, impact all animal species. Temperature, rainfall, daylight, windspeed, mast production, competition and predation are integral to the ecosystem and thus affect the survival and overall wellbeing of the population. Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) infant intakes at Ohio Wildlife Center followed a pattern of more infants in the fall than in the spring, differing from the usual observation that more infants are born in the spring. Ecosystem factors were compared to monthly and annual intakes to see what influenced intake date, admittance condition and survivability rate of the Eastern gray squirrel infants. The results …


Probing The Function Of Perilipin 5b, Rebekah Dalton Apr 2020

Probing The Function Of Perilipin 5b, Rebekah Dalton

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Many modern health issues arise from aberrant lipid metabolism, among these are type II diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. One commonality these diseases share is neutral lipid metabolism and storage. Regulation of neutral lipid metabolism is of vital importance in the body, and among the proteins responsible for such regulation are the perilipins. Perilipins are a family of five conserved proteins that are found on the surface of lipid storage droplets and play a central role in the regulation of cellular neutral lipid metabolism. Perilipin 5 specifically, is expressed in tissues with a high capacity for fatty acid oxidation …


Antimicrobial Properties Of An Unknown Microorganism Isolated From The Local Environment, Danielle Duryea Apr 2020

Antimicrobial Properties Of An Unknown Microorganism Isolated From The Local Environment, Danielle Duryea

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Bacterial species that cause disease can usually be combatted with antibiotics; but as the years pass, more and more bacterial pathogens are becoming resistant to these treatments. In fact, the Center for Disease Control has identified eighteen classes of bacteria ranging from urgent to concerning threats due antibiotic resistance (2019), warning the advance of an antibiotic resistance crisis in which untreatable bacterial infections will become a leading cause of death (Bennadi, 2014). The Small World Initiative is a program created in 2012 at Yale University to address the antibiotic crisis through a crowdsourcing effort where undergraduate students are encouraged to …


Diversity Of The Major Histocompatibility Complex In African Penguins (Spheniscus Demersus) In Situ, Athena Schalk Apr 2020

Diversity Of The Major Histocompatibility Complex In African Penguins (Spheniscus Demersus) In Situ, Athena Schalk

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is responsible for the immune response in all jawed vertebrates and protects individuals against a variety of pathogens and diseases. Maintaining genetic diversity within the MHC exons is critical to protecting endangered species. African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) are in danger of losing their MHC diversity in isolated populations due to reductions in population size associated with environmental changes and human activity. This study analyzes the diversity within the exons in the DNA encoding the MHC by amplifying the exons through polymerase chain reaction and identifying alleles through denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Wild populations of …


The Effect Of Slow-Feeding Hay Nets On Post-Prandial Equine Salivary Cortisol Levels, Grace Simpson Apr 2020

The Effect Of Slow-Feeding Hay Nets On Post-Prandial Equine Salivary Cortisol Levels, Grace Simpson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Throughout its evolution, the Equus caballus, or horse, developed a physiological response to environmental alterations involving the synthesis and release of cortisol from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, to regulate blood glucose levels, vascular tone and hormone release throughout the body (Ambrojo et al., 2018). With a hypothesis that changing a horse’s feeding method can alter salivary cortisol levels, the aim of this research project was to determine if feeding forage to horses in slow-feeding haynets would significantly reduce acute cortisol salivary level fluctuations, which would be valuable to minimize horses’ stress and increase overall welfare. Two feeding methods …


A Reexamination Of The Freshwater Mussel Community Of The Little Miami River, Emily Davis Apr 2020

A Reexamination Of The Freshwater Mussel Community Of The Little Miami River, Emily Davis

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Understanding the changes in biodiversity and local freshwater mussel populations is critical to mitigate the risks to these populations. Freshwater ecosystems continue to degrade rapidly. The freshwater mussel community of the Little Miami River is degraded and has been in decline for many years. The biodiversity contained within freshwater ecosystems is lost at unprecedented rates influenced by human activity. Freshwater mussels play a key role in understanding the effects of human activity on freshwater ecosystems as well as maintaining the health of freshwater habitats. However, they are also sensitive to changes and disturbances, in their ecosystems. This study involved monitoring …