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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Using Bioenergetics To Model The Effects Of Climate Change On Bluntnose Minnows Pimephales Notatus In A Western Kentucky Stream, Christian Slone, Christian Slone
Using Bioenergetics To Model The Effects Of Climate Change On Bluntnose Minnows Pimephales Notatus In A Western Kentucky Stream, Christian Slone, Christian Slone
Student Scholarship & Creative Works
Bioenergetics considers a variety of factors like consumption, excretion, and metabolism to quantify the energy use of an organism. A common use of bioenergetics modeling is to help solve fish stock problems. This project looks to develop a bioenergetics model for Bluntnose Minnows Pimephales notatus to help predict effects of climate change on the biodiversity of western Kentucky streams. We used R and NetLogo to create an agent-based bioenergetics model to simulate the size distribution of Bluntnose Minnows under various temperature regimes. Bluntnose Minnow metabolism increases, and consumption decreases with an increase in water temperature. Fish growth seems to be …
Adaptive Plasticity Of Coloration In Response To Environmental Change, Karissa Coffield
Adaptive Plasticity Of Coloration In Response To Environmental Change, Karissa Coffield
Scholars Week
When rapid environmental changes occur, different selective forces can create phenotypic trade-offs in which a trait can provide fitness benefits or costs under different environmental conditions. Amphibians are particularly vulnerable to environmental change, and previous research has revealed that some species will plastically respond to variation in temperature and ultra-violet radiation (UVR) by altering their coloration. Divergent selection on coloration may change with elevation and climate induced shifts in temperature because high temperatures are likely to result in lighter color morphs but as elevation increases, UVR exposure increases leading to the prediction that darker color morphs will be more common. …
Using Modeling To Investigate Factors Driving Avian Diversity In Urban Ecosystems, Clay Bliznick
Using Modeling To Investigate Factors Driving Avian Diversity In Urban Ecosystems, Clay Bliznick
Scholars Week
Anthropogenic influences have altered global landscapes considerably throughout the past two centuries, resulting in the decline of natural land cover types. Conversely, land cover types such as cropland and urban areas that are derived from human activities have experienced vast expansion. This landscape transition has serious implications for ecosystem services. To mitigate the loss of these services, it is necessary to maintain ecological integrity within these anthropogenically-influenced systems. Being able to support high biodiversity is an indicator of well-functioning ecosystems, thus quantifying biodiversity and assessing its contributing factors can be useful for developing management strategies in artificial environments. Our objective …
Morph- And Sex-Specific Differences In Corticosterone Of The Arizona Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma Mavortium Nebulosum), Megan Zerger
Morph- And Sex-Specific Differences In Corticosterone Of The Arizona Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma Mavortium Nebulosum), Megan Zerger
Scholars Week
Life history morph, sex, and body condition are traits that may influence stress within salamander populations because of differences in physiology and environmental conditions. Given widespread declines and the effects chronic stress can have on amphibian health, it is important to understand within-population drivers of stress and how population level variation may influence population viability. Thus, the objective of our study was to assess how corticosterone varies within the Arizona tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium nebulosum) population at the Mexican Cut Nature Preserve. We used a non-invasive skin swabbing method to collect baseline and elevated corticosterone from paedomorph (aquatic …
The Reconstruction Of Hatchery Creek: Effects On Macroinvertebrate And Fish Community Dynamics, Patrick Vrablik
The Reconstruction Of Hatchery Creek: Effects On Macroinvertebrate And Fish Community Dynamics, Patrick Vrablik
Murray State Theses and Dissertations
Hatchery Creek is a restored stream in Jamestown, KY that drains Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery. The previous degraded channel of Hatchery Creek caused large sediment plumes in the Lower Cumberland River and was restored to decrease sediment loss and provide the opportunity for a self-sustaining trout population. I predicted that the increased amount of habitat would increase taxa richness, abundance and biomass of macroinvertebrates. Macroinvertebrates were monitored in three periods; the degraded period, a one-year recovery period, and a restored period using surber and kicknet samples in order to determine biomass, abundance, diversity, taxa richness, and macroinvertebrate biotic index. …