Life Sciences Commons^™

Development And Monitoring Of Revegetation Methods: Connecting Students With Restoration Activities At Awcomin Marsh, David M. Burdick, Christopher R. Peter, Kirsten A. Nelson

PREP Reports & Publications

Five classes in a local elementary school participated in an effort to grow and plant high marsh and upper border vegetation at a salt marsh restoration site in spring 2005. Seeds of six marsh upper edge species were successfully germinated and grown into seedlings by third graders. The seedlings were planted by the students in late spring 2005, but only switchgrass and quackgrass plants appeared to have established and survived after one year. Mature shoots of three high marsh species planted by the third graders (salt hay, salt grass and black grass) established successfully and continue to proliferate. In addition, …

Verbena Urticifolia L., Gordon C. Tucker

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Photoreductive Dissolution Of Ferrihydrite By Methanesulfinic Acid: Evidence Of A Direct Link Between Dimethylsulfide And Iron-Bioavailability, Anne M. Johansen, Jennifer M. Key

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Within open‐ocean regions where excess macronutrients are present, phytoplankton growth is limited by the bioavailability of iron supplied to these areas primarily within atmospheric aerosols of crustal origin. However, processes that control the abundance of biologically accessible iron in these aerosols are largely unknown. Here we show that dissolution of ferrihydrite, a surrogate iron(oxy)hydroxide phase found in atmospheric waters, is enhanced in the presence of methanesulfinic acid (MSIA, CH₃SO₂H, a dimethylsulfide (DMS) oxidation intermediate) in laboratory irradiation experiments with aqueous suspensions that simulate marine aerosol particles. The increased release of soluble Fe(II) is attributed to a …

Classification Of Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors In Rat Ca1 Hippocampal Interneuron Subpopulations Defined By Calcium-Binding Protein Mrna Expression, Richard M. Burgon

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, the single-cell relative quantitative mRNA expression of three Calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs; calbindin, calretinin, parvalbumin) and eight nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits (alpha2-alpha5, alpha7, beta2-beta4) from interneurons from the stratum radiatum or stratum oriens within the CA1 region of rat hippocampi was analyzed using quantitative real time RT-PCR. Eighty-seven percent of the interneurons examined expressed CaBP mRNA. Parvalbumin mRNA was detected in 64%, while calbindin and calretinin expression was detected in 26% and 40% of interneurons, respectively. CaBP expression was not exclusive; the average number of CaBP mRNA detected per interneuron of the 47 interneurons examined for CaBP …

Supervised Detection Of Conserved Motifs In Dna Sequences With Cosmo, Oliver Bembom, Sunduz Keles, Mark J. Van Der Laan

U.C. Berkeley Division of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

A number of computational methods have been proposed for identifying transcription factor binding sites from a set of unaligned sequences that are thought to share the motif in question. We here introduce an algorithm, called cosmo, that allows this search to be supervised by specifying a set of constraints that the position weight matrix of the unknown motif must satisfy. Such constraints may be formulated, for example, on the basis of prior knowledge about the structure of the transcription factor in question. The algorithm is based on the same two-component multinomial mixture model used by MEME, with stronger reliance, however, …

Smokejumper Obituary: Henderson, Arthur A. (Missoula 1950), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Predicted Responses Of Small Mammals To Reintroduction Of Fire Along A Northern Prairie River Valley, Aren Eddingsaas, Robert Murphy, Patrick Isakson, Keith Behrend

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Fire is being reintroduced to restore native mixed-grass prairie that has been invaded by woody vegetation and introduced species of grasses at 8000-ha (20,000-ac) Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in northwestern North Dakota. Implications of this management for much of the local fauna are merely speculative without basic inventory data. We measured the occurrence and habitat relationships of small mammals (< 450 g [< 1 lb]) in prairie and woodland on the refuge. Using snaptraps, we captured 7 mammal species on 42 75-m (245-ft) radius plots in prairie during summer 1998 (n = 193 individuals in 5,208 trap-nights) and 5 species on 32 11-m (36-ft) radius plots in woodland during summer 2000 (n = 289 individuals in 2,560 trap-nights). We found 13-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus) and western jumping mouse (Zapus princeps) almost exclusively in open prairie and southern red-backed vole (Clethrionomys gapperi) almost exclusively in woodland. Based on logistic regression analysis, occurrence of 13-lined ground squirrel …

Long-Term Abundance Of Breeding Songbirds During Restoration Of Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie, Robert Murphy, Karen Smith

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

There are no published, long-term accounts of responses of grassland passerine birds to the restoration of northern mixed-grass prairie through combined use of fire and grazing. During 1979-2001, we assessed abundance of passerine birds (9 grassland species and 1 shrub-associate species) on 2 brush-invaded, mixed-grass prairie tracts at Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern North Dakota. Each tract encompassed 90 ha (220 ac) that were being restored through 4 prescribed fires then 3 consecutive years of grazing by cattle. Fires were separated by 2-4 years of rest (i.e., nondisturbance) and grazing was initiated 2 years after the last fire. Among …

Walking Tour Guide Of The Northeast Arboretum

Haskell Agricultural Laboratory (Northeast Research and Extension Center)

Contents:
Landscape Stewardship Site of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum
The Fruit Orchard
Perennial Flowerbeds
Island Plantings
Vine Display

Estimating The Cost Of Invasive Species On U.S. Agriculture: The U.S. Soybean Market, D. J. Lee, C.S. Kim, G Schaible

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Soybean production ranks among the largest agricultural cash crops in the U.S., second only to corn. U.S. soybean production topped 3 billion bushels in 2005 with sales of $17 billion. Approximately 58% of U.S. soybeans are grown in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Nebraska. A small percentage of the U.S. soybean crop, 2%, goes to human consumption in the form of whole beans, soybean oil, and soybean meal products. A third of the crop, 1 billion bushels per year is exported annually to China, EU, Mexico, Japan, and Taiwan, and other countries. Most of the crop, 2 billion bushels, goes …

Predicting Maize Yield, Nutrient Concentration And Uptake In P And K Fertilized Soils: Pressurized Hot Water And Other Alternatives To Mehlich I Extraction In Guatemala Soils, Heather Mae Hunsaker

Theses and Dissertations

The inaccessibility and cost of soil testing reduce effectiveness of fertilizer use on small-scale subsistence farms, and inadequate funding promotes adoption of soil tests in developing countries with minimal validation. For example, Mehlich-I extraction of phosphorus (P) currently used extensively in Guatemala may not be suitable for its broad range of soils. At least four alternatives are available but are relatively untested [Bray 1, Mehlich III, Olsen and pressurized hot water (PHW)]. Pressurized hot water is relatively simple and inexpensive, but is not yet tested against other extraction methods under variable P or potassium (K) fertilization levels. To determine whether …

Structure-Activity Studies Of Glycosphingolipids As Antigens Of Natural Killer T Cells, Randal Donald Goff

Theses and Dissertations

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs), composed of a polar saccharide head and a lipophilic ceramide tail, are ubiquitous components of the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells. They serve in many regulatory capacities and have antigenic properties towards natural killer T (NKT) cells of the innate immune system. Critical to the recognition of glycosylceramides by NKT cells are antigen presenting cells (APC), such as dendritic cells, which are responsible for binding, processing, and delivery of ligands to these lymphocytes. This event is mediated by CD1d, a major histocompatibility complex-like protein expressed on the surface of APCs, which binds GSL antigens by the ceramide moiety …

Suitability Of Cultivated And Wild Crucifers For The Development Of Diamondback Moth, Plutella Xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), G. Ayalew, B. Löhr, C. K.P.O. Ogol, J. Baumgärtner

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The performance of the Diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L., on Ethiopian cultivated and wild crucifers was studied in the laboratory for two generations. Head cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata L., was the most suitable host with the shortest developmental period and the highest reproductive potential. Both developmental period and life table statistics showed that the weed Erucastrum arabicum Fisch. and Mey was more suitable than some of the cultivated species. © 2006 Academic Journals Inc.

White-Tailed Deer Spotlight Survey Trends On Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, 1989-2005, Donald Althoff, Philip Gibson, Gary Meggers, David Hilley, Jim Sellers

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Legal harvest of deer has never been allowed on Quivira National Wildlife Refuge (QNWR) in south central Kansas; however, it is permitted on lands adjacent to the refuge. We assessed whether the rifle season for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) caused increased use of QNWR between 1989 and 2005. Deer spotlight surveys were conducted pre-rifle, rifle, and post-rifle seasons from 1989-2005. Total count, buck count, buck:doe ratio, fawns per doe, and percentage of does with twins were computed for each survey conducted. The average of the last 4 years (2002-2005) of the pre-rifle season surveys was 4.5 times greater …

Blanding’S Turtle (Emydoidea Blandingii): A Technical Conservation Assessment, Justin D. Congdon, Douglas A. Keinath

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Blanding’s turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) are secure in Nebraska, and they range from being vulnerable to threatened, or endangered throughout most of the rest of their distribution. In Region 2, they have not been reported from Kansas, they are extremely rare in South Dakota, and they occupy wetlands in the northern half of Nebraska. The largest population known within the range of Blanding’s turtles is at Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska.

The core habitat of Blanding’s turtles has an aquatic component that consists of a permanent wetland and a suite of other, usually smaller and more temporary, wetlands such …

Identification, Sequencing, Expression And Evolutionary Relationships Of The 11s Seed Storage Protein Gene In Chenopodium Quinoa Willd., Marie Renee Barrett Balzotti

Theses and Dissertations

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is an Andean crop adapted to harsh environmental conditions and containing a high and well-balanced protein composition. Two seed storage proteins, the 2S albumin and 11S globulin, are the major amino acid reservoirs for the developing seedling. An in-depth study of the genes encoding these proteins is necessary to understand the source of quinoa's protein quality. Our objectives include identification and sequencing of the 11S genomic and cDNA clones, analysis of 11S expression profiles in different quinoa accessions and evaluation of evolutionary relationships between the sequence of the 11S gene in quinoa and homologous genes in other …

Development Of A Notational Analysis System For Selected Soccer Skills Of A Women's College Team, Camille Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to develop a notational system to evaluate passing, dribbling, first touch, and individual defensive skills as they relate to success during women's soccer games and to develop a statistical model to weight the importance of each skill on creating scoring opportunities. Sequences of skills in 10 Division I intercollegiate women's soccer games were coded using well defined performance scores and outcomes. The notational analysis system was highly reliable as demonstrated by high test-retest Spearman's correlations (>0.98) between the first and second notation of 3 games for all four skills. The importance scores calculated …

Simple Sequence Repeat Development, Polymorphism And Genetic Mapping In Quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa Willd.), David Jarvis

Theses and Dissertations

Quinoa is an important, highly nutritional grain crop in the Andean region of South America. DNA markers and linkage maps are important tools for the improvement of underdeveloped crops such as quinoa. The objectives of this study were to (i) develop a new set of SSR markers to augment the number of SSR markers available in quinoa, and (ii) construct a new genetic linkage map of quinoa based on SSRs using multiple recombinant-inbred line (RIL) populations. Here we report the development of 216 new polymorphic SSR markers from libraries enriched for GA, CAA, and AAT repeats, as well as 6 …

Presence Of Burnout In Undergraduate Athletic Training Students, Tamra Sparks Riter

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To determine if undergraduate athletic training students enrolled in an athletic training education program (ATEP) and participating in a clinical assignment have burnout and if so, the possible causes.

Design and Setting: All undergraduate athletic training students enrolled in a clinical education course were surveyed twice in an eight week period. The surveys were given during the fourth week and the twelfth week of the winter 2006 semester. As part of the survey, each participant also answered eight demographic/status questions for correlation purposes.

Subjects: Fifty-one undergraduate athletic training students in a western United States university's accredited ATEP served as …

Comparative Efficiency Of Six Stable Fly (Diptera: Muscidae) Traps, David B. Taylor, Dennis Berkebile

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Five adhesive traps and the Nzi cloth-target trap were compared to determine their trapping efficiency and biases for stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae). Two configurations of the BiteFree prototype trap, constructed of polyethylene terephthalate, were most efficient for trapping stable flies, whereas the EZ trap was least efficient. The two Alsynite traps, Broce and Olson, were intermediate to the BiteFree prototype and EZ traps. All adhesive traps collected a ratio of approximately two males for each female. Approximately 50% of the flies collected on the adhesive traps, both male and female, were blood fed, and 20% were vitellogenic. …

Accumulation Of Phycotoxins In The Mussel Mytilus Galloprovincialis From The Central Adriatic Sea, Maja Pavela-Vrančić, Ivana Ujević, Živana Ninčević Gladan, Ambrose Furey

Physical Sciences Publications

Surveys of DSP (Diarrheic Shellfish Poisoning) toxin profiles in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis from coastal waters of the central Adriatic Sea, over the years 1995 to 2001, demonstrate that incidents of shellfish toxicity in this area are dominated by the occurrence of okadaic acid (OA) and a PTX derivative, 7-epi-pectenotoxin-2-seco acid (7-epi-PTX-2SA). Toxin composition and the relative ratio of toxic components in shellfish is in correlation with the occurrence of DSP producing organisms from the Dinophysis species along with Prorocentrum micans and Lingulodinium polyedrum. The occurrence of D. sacculus shortly before the appearance of OA in shellfish implicates its possible …

Lysimachia Ciliata L., Kerry Barringer

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Biogeography Of Buarremon Brush-Finches (Aves, Emberizinae): Integrating Ecology, Evolution, And Systematics, Carlos Daniel Cadena

Dissertations

Ecological and historical approaches to studying species¿ geographic ranges have yet to be unified. Ideal scenarios for integrating ecology with evolutionary biology in biogeography are those where contemporary ecological interactions may have influenced species¿ distributions historically, driving the evolution of ecological niches. I focused on understanding the origin of elevational distributions of species, and specifically on the role of interspecific competition in the origin of complementary elevational ranges. To test hypotheses about the origin of elevational distributions, I followed a combined approach involving molecular phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, and ecological niche modeling. I focused on Buarremon torquatus and B. brunneinucha …

Fdr And Bayesian Multiple Comparisons Rules, Peter Muller, Giovanni Parmigiani, Kenneth Rice

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

We discuss Bayesian approaches to multiple comparison problems, using a decision theoretic perspective to critically compare competing approaches. We set up decision problems that lead to the use of FDR-based rules and generalizations. Alternative definitions of the probability model and the utility function lead to different rules and problem-specific adjustments. Using a loss function that controls realized FDR we derive an optimal Bayes rule that is a variation of the Benjamini and Hochberg (1995) procedure. The cutoff is based on increments in ordered posterior probabilities instead of ordered p- values. Throughout the discussion we take a Bayesian perspective. In particular, …

Environmental Stress And Reproduction In Drosophila Melanogaster: Starvation Resistance, Ovariole Numbers And Early Age Egg Production, Marta L. Wayne, Usha Soundararajan, Lawrence G. Harshman

Papers in Genetics

Background: The Y model of resource allocation predicts a tradeoff between reproduction and survival. Environmental stress could affect a tradeoff between reproduction and survival, but the physiological mechanisms underlying environmental mediation of the tradeoff are largely unknown. One example is the tradeoff between starvation resistance and early fecundity. One goal of the present study was to determine if reduced early age fecundity was indeed a robust indirect response to selection for starvation resistance, by investigation of a set of D. melanogaster starvation selected lines which had not previously been characterized for age specific egg production. Another goal of the present …

The Effect Of Protein Dielectric Coefficient On The Ionic Selectivity Of A Calcium Channel, Douglas Henderson, Dezso Boda, Monika Valisko, Bob Eisenberg, Wolfgang Nonner, Dirk Gillespie

Faculty Publications

Calcium-selective ion channels are known to have carboxylate-rich selectivity filters, a common motif that is primarily responsible for their high Ca2+ affinity. Different Ca2+ affinities ranging from micromolar (the L-type Ca channel) to millimolar (the ryanodine receptor channel) are closely related to the different physiological functions of these channels. To understand the physical mechanism for this range of affinities given similar amino acids in their selectivity filters, we use grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations to assess the binding of monovalent and divalent ions in the selectivity filter of a model Ca channel. We use a reduced model where the electrolyte …

Sequence Analysis Of Pmel17 As Candidate Gene For Causing Rat-Tail Syndrome In Cattle, Benjamin C. Hecht

Theses and Dissertations

Congenital hypotrichosis in cattle is commonly referred to as "rat-tail" syndrome and is characterized by a dilution of black coat color and morphological changes to the hair shaft and tail switch. Two loci are involved in the inheritance of the rat-tail phenotype, the "extension locus" (MC1R) and an unknown locus. In order to express the rat-tail phenotype the animal must inherit at least one black allele at MC1R and be heterozygous at the unknown locus. The rat-tail locus was previously mapped to an 8.7 cM region of Bos Taurus autosome (BTA) 5. Pmel17 is known to be involved in the …

A Subset Of Arabidopsis Ap2 Transcription Factors Mediates Cytokinin Responses In Concert With A Two-Component Pathway, Aaron M. Rashotte, Michael G. Mason, Claire E. Hutchison, Fernando J. Ferreira, G. Eric Schaller, Joseph J. Kieber

Dartmouth Scholarship

The plant hormone cytokinin regulates numerous growth and developmental processes. A signal transduction pathway for cytokinin has been elucidated that is similar to bacterial two-component phosphorelays. In Arabidopsis, this pathway is comprised of receptors that are similar to sensor histidine kinases, histidine-containing phosphotransfer proteins, and response regulators (ARRs). There are two classes of response regulators, the type-A ARRs, which act as negative regulators of cytokinin responses, and the type-B ARRs, which are transcription factors that play a positive role in mediating cytokinin-regulated gene expression. Here we show that several closely related members of the Arabidopsis AP2 gene family of …

Potential Use Of The Conservation Security Program To Encourage Diverse Crop Rotations In Eastern South Dakota, Thomas Dobbs, Nicholas J. Streff

Economics Research Reports (1969 - 2017)

A central concern in many discussions of ecological sustainability in agricultural regions of the U.S. Midwest and Great Plains is that of crop system diversity. Many factors have contributed to the loss of crop system diversity over that last half-century (Dumke and Dobbs), one of which is public policy. The U.S. Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 ('2002 Farm Bill') provided for a new agri-environmental program that could have potential to help restore some of the crop system diversity that has been lost. The Conservation Security Program (CSP) is that program. This report, drawn from a Master of …

Factors Contributing To Dust Emissions In Clark County, Nevada Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending July 15, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Dust Emissions from Public Lands

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