Life Sciences Commons^™

Birds Of The Great Plains: Breeding Species And Their Distribution: New Expanded Edition (2009), Paul A. Johnsgard

Birds of the Great Plains (Revised Edition, 2009) by Paul Johnsgard

This book is the first to describe systematically all of the species of birds known to have bred or to breed at present in the Great Plains, a major ecological unit that encompasses all or part of part of eleven states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. Although the original Great Plains ecosystem—the grassland biome—has been greatly altered by modem agriculture, remnants still exist in national and state parks, grasslands, and refuges, as well as in rural cemeteries, railroad rights-of-way, and small nature reserves. These areas support populations of nearly all …

Iowa Academy Of Science: The New Bulletin, V05n3, Autumn 2009, Iowa Academy Of Science

New Bulletin

Inside This Issue:

--Message from the Executive Director

--Lois Hattery Tiffany

--Norman Borlaug

--Iowa Science Teaching Section Fall Conference

--2009 IAS Speaker Series at the Saylorville Visitor Center

--Announcements, Events & Deadlines

--IAS Corporate Memberships

--New REAP Plates Coming Soon

--GLOBE Database

--Membership Update

It's Not Too Late For The Harpy Eagle (Harpia Harpyja): High Levels Of Genetic Diversity And Differentiation Can Fuel Conservation Programs, Heather R. Lerner, Jeff A. Johnson, Alec R. Lindsay Ph. D., Lloyd F. Kiff, David P. Mindell

Faculty Works

Background: The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is the largest Neotropical bird of prey and is threatened by human persecution and habitat loss and fragmentation. Current conservation strategies include local education, captive rearing and reintroduction, and protection or creation of trans-national habitat blocks and corridors. Baseline genetic data prior to reintroduction of captive-bred stock is essential for guiding such efforts but has not been gathered previously.

Methodology/Findings: We assessed levels of genetic diversity, population structure and demographic history for harpy eagles using samples collected throughout a large portion of their geographic distribution in Central America (n = 32) and South America …

Seven New Species Of Cephennium Muller & Kunze (Coleptera, Staphylinidae, Scymaeninae, Cephenniini) From California With A Key To Native North American Species, Michael S. Caterino, Katie J. Hopp

Publications

Seven new species of Cephennium from California are described and illustrated - C. celsifrons, sp. n., C. mariposae, sp. n., C. grandarboreum, sp. n., C. canestroi, sp. n., C. gilberti, sp. n., C. urbanum, sp. n. and C. aridum, sp. n. Th e single known native Nearctic species, C. anophthalmicum Brendel, was known only from moist coastal forests around the San Francisco Bay area. Th e new species greatly expand the distribution of the genus, through central and southern California, occurring in the central Sierra Nevada, south through the coast ranges and Sierra Nevada to the Santa Monica Mountains and …

Spatial Dynamics Of Nesting Behavior: Lizards Shift Microhabitats To Construct Nests With Beneficial Thermal Properties, Michael W. Sears, Michael J. Angilletta, Robert M. Pringle

Publications

Because temperature affects the growth, development, and survival of embryos,
oviparous mothers should discriminate carefully among available nesting sites. We combined a radiotelemetric study of animal movements with a spatial mapping of environmental temperatures to test predictions about the nesting behavior of the eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus). Females made large excursions from their typical home ranges to construct nests in exposed substrates. These excursions appeared to be related solely to nesting because all females returned to forested habitat immediately afterward. On average, 1% (range ¼ 0–8%, n ¼ 19) of the area used by a female during nesting was …

It's Time To Check The Nets: Research And Conservation Of Rafinesque Big-Eared Bats In East Texas, Christopher E. Comer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter Is Required For Neuromuscular Development And Function, Braulio M. De Castro, Xavier De Jaeger, Cristina Martins-Silva, Ricardo D. F. Lima, Ernani Amaral, Cristiane Menezes, Patricia Lima, Cintia M. L. Neves, Rita G. Pires, Thomas W. Gould, Ian Welch, Christopher Kushmerick, Cristina Guatimosim, Ivan Izquierdo, Martin Cammarota, Jane R. Rylett, Marcus V. Gomez, Marc G. Caron, Ronald W. Oppenheim, Marco A. M. Prado, Vania F. Prado

Anatomy and Cell Biology Publications

The vesicular acetylcholine (ACh) transporter (VAChT) mediates ACh storage by synaptic vesicles. However, the VAChT-independent release of ACh is believed to be important during development. Here we generated VAChT knockout mice and tested the physiological relevance of the VAChT-independent release of ACh. Homozygous VAChT knockout mice died shortly after birth, indicating that VAChT-mediated storage of ACh is essential for life. Indeed, synaptosomes obtained from brains of homozygous knockouts were incapable of releasing ACh in response to depolarization. Surprisingly, electrophysiological recordings at the skeletal-neuromuscular junction show that VAChT knockout mice present spontaneous miniature end-plate potentials with reduced amplitude and frequency, which …

Robustness Of The Bacterial Community In The Cabbage White Butterfly Larval Midgut, Courtney Robinson, Patrick Schloss, Yolied Ramos, Kenneth Raffa, Jo Handelsman

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

Microbial communities typically vary in composition and structure over space and time. Little is known about the inherent characteristics of communities that govern various drivers of these changes, such as random variation, changes in response to perturbation, or susceptibility to invasion. In this study, we use 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences to describe variation among bacterial communities in the midguts of cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) larvae and examine the influence of community structure on susceptibility to invasion. We compared communities in larvae experiencing the same conditions at different times (temporal variation) or fed different diets (perturbation). The most highly …

Ectopic T-Bet Expression Licenses Dendritic Cells For Il-12-Independent Priming Of Type 1 T Cells In Vitro, Michael Lipscomb

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

T-bet (TBX21) is a transcription factor required for the optimal development of type 1 immune responses. Although initially characterized for its intrinsic role in T cell functional polarization, endogenous T-bet may also be critical to the licensing of type 1-biasing APCs. Here, we investigated whether human dendritic cells (DC) genetically engineered to express high levels of T-bet (i.e., DC.Tbet) promote superior type 1 T cell responses in vitro. We observed that DC.Tbet were selective activators of type 1 effector T cells developed from the naive pool of responder cells, whereas DC.Tbet and control DC promoted type 1 responses equitably from …

Paraconsistent Reasoning For Owl 2, Yue Ma, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

A four-valued description logic has been proposed to reason with description logic based inconsistent knowledge bases. This approach has a distinct advantage that it can be implemented by invoking classical reasoners to keep the same complexity as under the classical semantics. However, this approach has so far only been studied for the basid description logic ALC. In this paper, we further study how to extend the four-valued semantics to the more expressive description logic SROIQ which underlies the forthcoming revision of the Web Ontology Language, OWL 2, and also investigate how it fares when adapated to tractable description logics including …

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter, Fall 2009, University Of Northern Iowa. Tallgrass Prairie Center.

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter

Inside This Issue:

-- Plasticulture for Wetland Seed Production
-- Prescribed Fire Workshops for NRCS Personnel
-- Natural Resources Fall Seminar Wrap-UP
-- White Chicken Chili on the Range Plant shallow!
-- Roadsides: Living on the Edge
-- Onward and Upward...Student Employees Graduate to Next Level
-- Can You Identify this Seedling

Tree Fruits As Annual Crops?, Stephen L. Young

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Orchard systems have gone through dynamic changes over the past 50 years. High-density plantings and dwarfing rootstocks have allowed growers to make changes in production practices more quickly as markets have expanded and become more volatile. Will these changes in woody perennial crops in the past five decades be equaled or surpassed in the next?

From this research, it is clear that with breeding and genetics, intensive orchard systems can come into full production at a faster rate than those of the pre-twentieth century era. Future research will provide clues as to how even faster production capacity can be achieved …

Birds Of The Great Plains: Three Decades Of Change In Great Plains Birds: A 2009 Supplement To The Birds Of The Great Plains: Breeding Species And Their Distribution, Paul A. Johnsgard

Birds of the Great Plains (Revised Edition, 2009) by Paul Johnsgard

Since the 1979 publication of this book much has been learned of breeding bird distributions in North America, largely as a result of the national Breeding Bird Surveys that were initiated in the 1960s and have continued to the present (Sauer, Hines and Fallon, 2008). From these studies long-term regional average densities of breeding birds have been deduced and national maps generated (Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. 2003). There have also been several state-wide studies on breeding birds of the Great Plains, as represented by breeding bird atlases for South Dakota (Peterson, 1995), Nebraska (Mollhoff, 2001), Kansas (Busby and Zimmerman, 2001), …

Selenoproteins Regulate Macrophage Invasiveness And Extracellular Matrix-Related Gene Expression, Bradley A. Carlson, Min-Hyuk Yoo, Yasuyo Sano, Aniruddha Sengupta, Jin Young Kim, Robert Irons, Vadim N. Gladyshev, Dolph L. Hatfield, Jin Mo Park

Vadim Gladyshev Publications

Background: Selenium, a micronutrient whose deficiency in diet causes immune dysfunction and inflammatory disorders, is thought to exert its physiological effects mostly in the form of selenium-containing proteins (selenoproteins). Incorporation of selenium into the amino acid selenocysteine (Sec), and subsequently into selenoproteins is mediated by Sec tRNA^[Ser]Sec.
Results: To define macrophage-specific selenoprotein functions, we generated mice with the Sec tRNA^[Ser]Sec gene specifically deleted in myeloid cells. These mutant mice were devoid of the "selenoproteome" in macrophages, yet exhibited largely normal inflammatory responses. However, selenoprotein deficiency led to aberrant expression of extracellular matrix-related genes, and diminished migration of …

Relationship Of Reef Fish Assemblages And Topographic Complexity On Southeastern Florida Coral Reef Habitats, Brian K. Walker, Lance K. B. Jordan, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Reef fish assemblage relationships with in situ and lidar topographic measurements across the seascape were analyzed to evaluate the possibility of using lidar metrics as a proxy for prediction models. In situ topographic complexity (i.e., linear rugosity) was measured from 346 point-count fish surveys spanning the reef seascape. Lidar topographic measurements (i.e., surface rugosity, elevation, and volume) were obtained from a high-resolution lidar bathymetric dataset of each survey's footprint. The survey sites were characterized by an independently derived benthic habitat map. Reef fish abundance and species richness appeared to increase with increasing topographic complexity. Although significant, the relationship was weak. …

The Emerging Role Of Lidar Remote Sensing In Coastal Research And Resource Management Full Access, John C. Brock, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Knowledge of coastal elevation is an essential requirement for resource management and scientific research. Recognizing the vast potential of lidar remote sensing in coastal studies, this Special Issue includes a collection of articles intended to represent the state-of-the-art for lidar investigations of nearshore submerged and emergent ecosystems, coastal morphodynamics, and hazards due to sea-level rise and severe storms. Some current applications for lidar remote sensing described in this Special Issue include bluegreen wavelength lidar used for submarine coastal benthic environments such as coral reef ecosystems, airborne lidar used for shoreline mapping and coastal change detection, and temporal waveform-resolving lidar used …

5q- Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Chromosome 5q Genes Direct A Tumor-Suppression Network Sensing Actin Dynamics, K. M. Eisenmann, K. J. Dykema, Stephen F. Matheson, N. F. Kent

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Complete loss or interstitial deletions of chromosome 5 are the most common karyotypic abnormality in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs). Isolated del(5q)/5q- MDS patients have a more favorable prognosis than those with additional karyotypic defects, who tend to develop myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and acute myeloid leukemia. The frequency of unbalanced chromosome 5 deletions has led to the idea that 5q harbors one or more tumor-suppressor genes that have fundamental roles in the growth control of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSCs/HPCs). Cytogenetic mapping of commonly deleted regions (CDRs) centered on 5q31 and 5q32 identified candidate tumor-suppressor genes, including the ribosomal subunit RPS14, the transcription …

A Preferential Tableaux Calculus For Circumscriptive Alco, Stephan Grimm, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Nonmonotonic extensions of description logics (DLs) allow for default and local closed-world reasoning and are an acknowledged desired feature for applications, e.g. in the Semantic Web. A recent approach to such an extension is based on McCarthy's circumscription, which rests on the principle of minimising the extension of selected predicates to close off dedicated parts of a domain model. While decidability and complexity results have been established in the literature, no practical algorithmisation for circumscriptive DLs has been proposed so far. In this paper, we present a tableaux calculus that can be used as a decision procedure for concept satisfiability …

Institutional Design And Governance In Microbial Research Commons, Charlotte Hess

Librarian Publications

Presentation slides on institutional design and governance to facilitate a global research commons for microbiology delivered at the International Symposium on Designing the Microbial Research Commons, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 8-9 October 2009.

Interpretation Of Single-Beam Acoustic Backscatter Using Lidar-Derived Topographic Complexity And Benthic Habitat Classifications In A Coral Reef Environment, Greg Foster, Brian K. Walker, Bernhard Riegl

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Producing thematic coral reef benthic habitat maps from single-beam acoustic backscatter has been hindered by uncertainties in interpreting the acoustic energy parameters E1 (tail of 1st echo) and E2 (complete 2nd echo), typically limiting such maps to sediment classification schemes. In this study, acoustic interpretation was guided by high-resolution lidar (LIght Detection And Ranging) bathymetry. Each acoustic record, acquired from a BioSonics DT-X echosounder and multiplexed 38 and 418 kHz transducers, was paired with a spatially-coincident value of a lidar-derived proxy for topographic complexity, reef-volume (RV), and its membership to one of eight benthic habitat classes, delineated from lidar imagery, …

Comparative Life Cycles And Life Histories Of North American Rhabdias Spp. (Nematoda: Rhabdiasidae): Lungworms From Snakes And Anurans, Gabriel J. Langford, John J. Janovy Jr.

John J. Janovy, Jr. Publications

The present study used experimental infections to compare the life cycles and life histories of 6 Rhabdias spp. infecting snakes and anurans. Free-living development of anuran lungworms was primarily limited to heterogonic reproduction, and females utilized matricidal endotoky exclusively, whereas snake lungworms primarily reproduced homogonically and, when heterogonic reproduction occurred, females used a combination of releasing eggs and matricidal endotoky. Infective snake lungworms survived for longer periods in fresh water compared to anuran worms. Infective anuran lungworms penetrated into the skin of frogs and toads; few infections resulted from per os infections. In contrast, snake lungworms were unable to penetrate …

Forage News [2009-10], Department Of Plant And Soil Sciences, University Of Kentucky

Forage News

• 10th Kentucky Grazing Conference
• 30th "Anniversary" Kentucky Alfalfa Conference
• KFGC Update
• Growing Alfalfa in the South
• Effects of a Freeze on Forages
• Grazing and Eliminative Behavior of Horses Grazing Bermudagrass
• Spatial Distribution of Livestock Concentration Areas and Soil Nutrients in Pastures
• Effect if Humate Application on the Forage Yield and Quality of Bermudagrass and Tall Fescue
• Effect of Repeated or One-Time Grazing of Kudzu by Sheep and Goats in Central Georgia
• Upcoming Events

New Records Of Dynastine Scarab Beetles In The Tribes Oryctini, Agaocephalini And Dynastini From Cayo District, Belize (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae), Conrad P. D. T. Gillett

Insecta Mundi

Six species of the tribe Oryctini, one species of Agaocephalini, and two species of Dynastini are presently recorded from the Cayo district of western Belize. The following five species are newly recorded from Belize: Heterogomphus mniszechi (Thomson), Strategus longichomperus Ratcliffe, S. jugurtha Burmeister, Spodistes mniszechi (Thomson), and Dynastes hercules (Linnaeus). The following two species are newly recorded from Cayo: Enema endymion Chevrolat and Strategus aloeus (Linnaeus). Biological and distributional comments relating to these records are presented and briefly discussed.

Six espèces de la tribu Oryctini, une espèce de la tribu Agaocephalini et deux espèces de la tribu Dynastini sont signalées …

Birds Of The Rocky Mountains—Species Accounts, Pages 55–63: Loons & Grebes, Paul A. Johnsgard

Birds of the Rocky Mountains by Paul A. Johnsgard

Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata)
Arctic Loon (Gavia arctica)
Common Loon (Gavia immer)
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)
Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena)
Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricallis)
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)

Ageing And Cancer As Diseases Of Epigenesis, Scott F. Gilbert

Biology Faculty Works

Cancer and ageing are often said to be diseases of development. During the past fifty years, the genetic components of cancer and ageing have been intensely investigated since development, itself, was seen to be an epiphenomenon of the genome. However, as we have learned more about the expression of the genome, we find that differences in expression can be as important as differences in alleles. It is easier to inactivate a gene by methylation than by mutation, and given that appropriate methylation is essential for normal development, one can immediately see that diseases would result as a consequence of inappropriate …

Historical Land Values, Department Of Agricultural Economics, University Of Kentucky

Agricultural Economics Presentations

No abstract provided.

Market Situation And Outlook For Hogs, Poultry And Small Ruminants, A. Lee Meyer

Agricultural Economics Presentations

No abstract provided.

Horticulture, Department Of Agricultural Economics, University Of Kentucky

Agricultural Economics Presentations

No abstract provided.

Beef, Dairy, And Equine, Kenneth H. Burdine

Agricultural Economics Presentations

No abstract provided.

Timber Market, Gregory S. Halich

Agricultural Economics Presentations

No abstract provided.