Life Sciences Commons^™

Verbena Hastata L., Ernest L. Stover

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Phyla Strigulosa (Mart. & Galeotti) Moldenke, Wayne M. Pichon

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Verbena Bracteata Lag. & Rodr., M. S. Bebb

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Callicarpa Americana Lour., Vincent P. Hustad

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Viola Eriocarpa Var. Eriocarpa

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Viola Pubescens Var. Eriocarpa, Douglas Ladd, Debbie Bowen

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Viola Pubescens Var. Eriocarpa, John Gerard

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Viola Eriocarpa Var. Eriocarpa, Joseph N. Diel

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

2015 Program, Office Of Academic Affairs

Programs

A university is more than an amalgamation of several colleges. It also is an organization which celebrates the full richness of faculty contributions including those vital and exciting contributions in research, scholarship and creative activity within their disciplines. These contributions come in many forms: journal articles, book chapters, monographs, art works, music compositions, performances of many varieties and a host of others. Funded research contributions are similarly varied. Through such activities, faculty members stay at the growing edges of their fields, and in so doing, they enrich their intellectual lives as well as those of their students.

Once again, I …

Samolus Valerandii, Paul Sargent

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Lantana Involucrata L., W. Mcclain

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Tradeoffs Of Warm Adaptation In Aquatic Ectotherms: Live Fast, Die Young?, A. P. Porreca, E. Martinez, R. E. Colombo, Michael A. Menze

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In the face of a changing climate, questions regarding sub-lethal effects of elevated habitat temperature on the physiology of ectotherms remain unanswered. In particular, long-term responses of ectotherms to the warming trend in tropical regions are unknown and significantly understudied due primarily to the difficulties in specimen and community traceability. In freshwater lakes employed as cooling reservoirs for power plants, increased physiological stress from high water temperature can lead to an increase in mortality, reduce growth, and potentially alter the community structure of fishes. Throughout this study, we employ this highly tractable system to assess how elevated thermal regimes can …

Acer Pensylvanicum L., Elisabet Ore

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Comptonia Peregrina (L.) J.M. Coult., Elisabet Ore

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Streamwise Vortices Destabilize Swimming Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus), Anabela Maia, Alex P. Sheltzer, Eric D. Tytell

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In their natural environment, fish must swim stably through unsteady flows and vortices, including vertical vortices, typically shed by posts in a flow, horizontal cross-flow vortices, often produced by a step or a waterfall in a stream, and streamwise vortices, where the axis of rotation is aligned with the direction of the flow. Streamwise vortices are commonly shed by bluff bodies in streams and by ships' propellers and axial turbines, but we know little about their effects on fish. Here, we describe how bluegill sunfish use more energy and are destabilized more often in flow with strong streamwise vorticity. The …

Geographic Range Predicts Photosynthetic And Growth Response To Warming In Co-Occurring Tree Species, Peter B. Reich, Kerrie M. Sendall, Karen Rice, Roy L. Rich, Artur Stefanski, Sarah E. Hobbie, Rebecca A. Montgomery

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Algal Biomass As A Binding Agent For The Densification Of Miscanthus, Sunil Thapa, Daniel B. Johnson, Peter Ping Liu, Thomas Canam

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Purpose: Lignocellulosic biomass has been regarded as an important future energy source due to its excessive availability; however, the wide application of this material for many applications is restricted by the high costs associated with densification, transportation, thermo-chemical pretreatment and conversion. In order to increase the density of lignocellulosic biomass, it is typically compressed into pellets or briquettes. This frequently requires the addition of additives, which may negatively impact the economics of the process. Environmentally-friendly binding agents that can be obtained inexpensively are therefore desirable. This study examines the change in physicochemical properties of densified Miscanthus straw where algae were …

Algal Biomass As A Binding Agent For The Densification Of Miscanthus, Sunil Thapa, Daniel Johnson, Peter Liu, Thomas Canam

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Purpose: Lignocellulosic biomass has been regarded as an important future energy source due to its excessive availability; however, the wide application of this material for many applications is restricted by the high costs associated with densification, transportation, thermo-chemical pretreatment and conversion. In order to increase the density of lignocellulosic biomass, it is typically compressed into pellets or briquettes. This frequently requires the addition of additives, which may negatively impact the economics of the process. Environmentally-friendly binding agents that can be obtained inexpensively are therefore desirable. This study examines the change in physicochemical properties of densified Miscanthus straw where algae were …

Molecular Approaches For Improving Desiccation Tolerance: Insights From The Brine Shrimp Artemia Franciscana, Steven C. Hand, Michael A. Menze

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Main conclusion We have evaluated the endogenous expression and molecular properties of selected Group 3 LEA proteins from Artemia franciscana , and the capacity of selected Groups 1 and 3 proteins transfected into various desiccation-sensitive cell lines to improve tolerance to drying. Organisms inhabiting both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems frequently are confronted with the problem of water loss for multiple reasons—exposure to hypersalinity, evaporative water loss, and restriction of intracellular water due to freezing of extracellular fluids. Seasonal desiccation can become severe and lead to the production of tolerant propagules and entry into the state of anhydrobiosis at various stages …

Factors Affecting The Spatial Distribution Of Oviposition Sites For Tandem Black Saddlebags Dragonflies (Odonata: Libellulidae), Jessica L. Thornton, Paul V. Switzer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Oviposition site location may be affected by (1) factors influencing the costs and benefits to the offspring (e.g., resource availability, competition, predation risk) and (2) factors influencing the costs and benefits to the female (e.g., predation risk or mate ha- rassment). In cases in which both the male and female are involved in locating a site, costs and benefits may differ for each parent and the resulting oviposition site location may represent the outcome of selection pressures on one or both of them. We studied oviposi- tion behavior in the black saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata Hagen), a species in which …

Tradeoffs Of Warm Adaptation In Aquatic Ectotherms: Live Fast, Die Young?, Eloy Martinez, Anthony Porreca, Robert Colombo, Michael Menze

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In the face of a changing climate, questions regarding sub-lethal effects of elevated habitat temperature on the physiology of ectotherms remain unanswered. In particular, long-term responses of ectotherms to the warming trend in tropical regions are unknown, and understudied due to the difficulties in specimen and community traceability. In freshwater lakes employed as cooling reservoirs for power plants, increased physiological stress from high water temperature can potentially alter the community structure of fishes. We employ this highly tractable system to assess how thermal regimes can alter the physiology and ecology of aquatic species. We documented a significantly reduced lifespan, growth …

Physiological Performance Of Warm-Adapted Marine Ectotherms: Thermal Limits Of Mitochondrial Energy Transduction Efficiency, Eloy Martinez, Eric Hendricks, Michael Menze, Joseph Torres

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Thermal regimes in aquatic systems have profound implications for the physiology of ectotherms. In particular, the effect of elevated temperatures on mitochondrial energy transduction (i.e. energy from carbon substrates to ATP) in tropical and subtropical teleosts may have profound consequences on organismal performance and population viability. Upper and lower whole-organism critical temperatures for teleosts suggest that subtropical and tropical species are not susceptible to the warming trends associated with climate change, but sub-lethal effects on energy transduction efficiency and population dynamics remain unclear. The goal of the present study was to compare the thermal sensitivity of processes associated with mitochondrial …

Cyperus Sanguinolentus Vahl, Gordon C. Tucker, Vicky M. Tucker

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Acute Toxicity Assessment Of N,N-Diethyl-M-Toluamide (Deet) On The Photosynthetic Activity Of The Dinoflagellate Gymnodinium Instriatum, Eloy Martinez, Sylvia Velez, Marietta Mayo, Miguel Sastre

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Despite the ubiquitous occurrence of N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) in aquatic systems, assessments evaluating the toxicity of DEET on phytoplankton species are summed to a single study on a unicellular green alga. In particular, the toxicological effects of DEET in dinoflagellates are unknown. In this study, we employed the mixotrophic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium instriatum as a study system to evaluate acute effects of DEET on the oxygen flux of laboratory cultures. This study reports an inhibitory reaction model of DEET described by the equation y = 4.99 x 0.54, where y represents the percent inhibition of oxygen flux and x represents DEET …

Factors Affecting The Spatial Distribution Of Oviposition Sites For Tandem Black Saddlebags Dragonflies (Odonata: Libellulidae), Jessica Thornton, Paul Switzer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Oviposition site location may be affected by (1) factors influencing the costs and benefits to the offspring (e.g., resource availability, competition, predation risk) and (2) factors influencing the costs and benefits to the female (e.g., predation risk or mate ha- rassment). In cases in which both the male and female are involved in locating a site, costs and benefits may differ for each parent and the resulting oviposition site location may represent the outcome of selection pressures on one or both of them. We studied oviposi- tion behavior in the black saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata Hagen), a species in which …

Allelopathic Effects Of S. Canadensis On The Germination Of Native Prairie Plants, James David Megenhardt

Masters Theses

Solidago canadensis has become a aggressive species of North American prairie forb throughout the world and within restored prairies throughout North America, causing the loss of biodiversity within those ecosystems. While reproductive methods of wind dispersed seeds and clonal expansion through rhizomes has helped S. canadensis colonize and spread through these ecosystems, S. canadensis also releases allelopathic chemicals which may inhibit the germination and growth of competing species. What was unknown is if these same allelopathic chemicals which give S. canadensis an edge within foreign ecosystems might also explain why S. canadensis is so prolific in restored North American …

Daily Activity Patterns In Three Migratory Bird Species At A Stopover Site On The Northern Coast Of The Gulf Of Mexico, Lynn Schofield

Masters Theses

CHAPTER I: A Comparison of Diel Movement Patterns in Three Bird Species at a Stopover Site on the Northern Coast of the Gulf of Mexico

During migration, birds require stopover habitats where they stop en route to rest, refuel, and prepare for the next stage of their migration. For songbirds, many short movements made within a stopover habitat are known to be costlier than a single long migratory flight, as it takes a considerable amount of energy to initiate flight. This indicates that migrating birds should strive to balance the energy expenditure made in movement during stopover and energy gains …

Asian Carp Population Status And Reproductive Potential In Illinois River Tributaries, Clinton Wesley Morgeson

Masters Theses

Large floodplain rivers are among the most complex natural systems characterized by exchange between the river and its floodplain. Information regarding fishes in main channel habitats is abundant, however much less understanding extends into their tributaries. Tributaries of large rivers provide critical habitats for main channel fishes, important for foraging, spawning, and refuge. In addition to native diversity, large rivers are host to multiple exotic species invasions, threatening biodiversity, ecosystem function, and habitat quality. Two notorious invaders are Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and Bighead Carp (H. nobilis), collectively Asian Carp, presenting an imminent threat of invasion …

Compatibility Factors Of Fascioloides Magna Miracidia And Four Sympatric Snail Species: Miracidial Behavior And Snail Response, Bryan Rolfsen

Masters Theses

Miracidia exhibit observable host-finding behaviors, and their sympatric snails have attributes that either permit or prohibit infection. This study was designed to assess the factors involved in intermediate host finding and host-parasite compatibility in the deer liver fluke (Fascioloides magna). The main aim was to determine the extent to which the parasite and/or the intermediate host are involved in host-parasite compatibility. A secondary goal was to determine what factors may lead to miracidial transformation. The study used a panel of four sympatric snails (Lymnaea caperata, Lymnaea palustris, Lymnaea exilis, and Physa sp.) that display …

Adaptive Significance Of Aberrant Chickadee Song In Illinois, Evan Andrew Glynn

Masters Theses

I studied the behavioral responses of Black-capped (Poecile atricapilus) and Carolina (P. carolinensis) chickadees to playback of Black-capped, Carolina, and aberrant chickadee songs throughout the state of Illinois. These two species are parapatrically distributed throughout the eastern United States, including Illinois. Some areas exist where the ranges of the two species overlap. Individuals in these contact zones often sing aberrant vocalizations. This study focused on the two parental vocalizations (i.e., Black-capped and Carolina song), and two of the most common aberrant vocalizations (the 'Greenville' and 'Vandalia' aberrant dialects), in an attempt to understand the adaptive significance of these aberrant songs. …