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Articles 181 - 210 of 1177

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Field Observations And An Herbarium Study To Understand Plant Reproductive Phenology In Areas Surrounding The Mississippi River, Caitlyn Marie Sims May 2023

Field Observations And An Herbarium Study To Understand Plant Reproductive Phenology In Areas Surrounding The Mississippi River, Caitlyn Marie Sims

Student Theses and Dissertations

Plant phenology – the timing of cyclical phases during development – is sensitive to environmental and climatic factors. This thesis focuses on two main factors driving plant reproductive phenology, inundation from flooding and temperature. In Chapter 2, I examine phenological shifts of six taxa along the elevation gradient of a Lower Mississippi River island in response to flood regime. Analyses showed that five out of six taxa responded to flooding, such that their mature fruiting onset, peak, and/or cessation events were shifted in association with elevation, but only two taxa had all three phenological events shifted. Additionally, the total reproductive …

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A Foundational Population Genetics Investigation Of The Sexual Systems Of Solanum (Solanaceae) In The Australian Monsoon Tropics Suggests Dioecious Taxa May Benefit From Increased Genetic Admixture Via Obligate Outcrossing, Jason T. Cantley, Ingrid E. Jordon-Thaden, Morgan Roche, Daniel S. Hayes, Stephamie Kate, Christopher T. Martine May 2023

A Foundational Population Genetics Investigation Of The Sexual Systems Of Solanum (Solanaceae) In The Australian Monsoon Tropics Suggests Dioecious Taxa May Benefit From Increased Genetic Admixture Via Obligate Outcrossing, Jason T. Cantley, Ingrid E. Jordon-Thaden, Morgan Roche, Daniel S. Hayes, Stephamie Kate, Christopher T. Martine

Faculty Journal Articles

Solanum section Leptostemonum is an ideal lineage to test the theoretical framework regarding proposed evolutionary benefits of outcrossing sexual systems in comparison to cosexuality. Theoretically, non-cosexual taxa should support more genetic diversity within populations, experience less inbreeding, and have less genetic structure due to a restricted ability to self-fertilize. However, many confounding factors present challenges for a confident inference that inherent differences in sexual systems influence observed genetic patterns among populations. This study provides a foundational baseline of the population genetics of several species of different sexual systems with the aim of generating hypotheses of any factor—including sexual system—that influences …

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Exploration Of Differential Equation Models For Phage-Bacteria Population Dynamics, John Lawrence D. Palacios, Rebecca Segal May 2023

Exploration Of Differential Equation Models For Phage-Bacteria Population Dynamics, John Lawrence D. Palacios, Rebecca Segal

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Identifiability Analysis Applied To Rhizbium-Legume Symbiosis Model, Meghan Peltier May 2023

Identifiability Analysis Applied To Rhizbium-Legume Symbiosis Model, Meghan Peltier

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Mathematics Of Population-Genetics Model For Assessing The Impacts Of Insecticide Resistance And Temperature On Population Abundance Of Malaria Mosquitoes, Jemal Mohammed-Awel May 2023

Mathematics Of Population-Genetics Model For Assessing The Impacts Of Insecticide Resistance And Temperature On Population Abundance Of Malaria Mosquitoes, Jemal Mohammed-Awel

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Exploring The Dynamics Of Bacterial Populations In The Gut Microbiota, Shaikh Obaidullah May 2023

Exploring The Dynamics Of Bacterial Populations In The Gut Microbiota, Shaikh Obaidullah

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Simulation And Latin Hypercube Sampling Of Mixed-Time Models In A Consumer-Resource Relationship, Boluwatife E. Awoyemi, Amanda N. Laubmeier, Richard L. Rebarber May 2023

Simulation And Latin Hypercube Sampling Of Mixed-Time Models In A Consumer-Resource Relationship, Boluwatife E. Awoyemi, Amanda N. Laubmeier, Richard L. Rebarber

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

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Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer May 2023

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

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Connecting Social And Ecological Systems In Small-Scale Fisheries In The Philippines, Sara Eisler Marriott May 2023

Connecting Social And Ecological Systems In Small-Scale Fisheries In The Philippines, Sara Eisler Marriott

Dissertations

Nearly 50% of all marine fish capture in the Philippines is from artisanal fisheries, most of which is un- or under-reported. As in many emerging nations around the world, the Philippines cannot fully address overfishing by managing only half of the catch that comes from commercial fisheries. Marine reserves are a popular governance strategy for conservation and of growing interest for fisheries management. Many marine reserves in the Philippines, however, are not considered effective. In 2014, Rare, an international NGO, implemented a community-based management program to increase the effectiveness of the marine reserves, and while it found biomass increased, there …

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Density And Nest Success Of Shrub-Dependent Birds On Formerly Strip-Mined Lands, Luke Headings May 2023

Density And Nest Success Of Shrub-Dependent Birds On Formerly Strip-Mined Lands, Luke Headings

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

As bird populations continue to decline across North America, it is important to understand the benefits that disturbed habitats can have for breeding birds. One of the major land disturbances and causes of habitat loss in the United States is surface mining, which often results in altered vegetative communities. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the relationships between bird populations, habitat, previous and current land use, and densities of invasive plant species on formerly strip-mined land. Due to the proliferation of invasive shrub species in post-mined landscapes, we sought to determine the effects of post-mined habitat features …

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Smile For The Camera: Patterns Of Mammal Abundance In Great Hill Forest Through Four Years Of Camera Trapping, Alexander Gonatas May 2023

Smile For The Camera: Patterns Of Mammal Abundance In Great Hill Forest Through Four Years Of Camera Trapping, Alexander Gonatas

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Snapshot USA is a nationwide camera trapping project aiming to determine biodiversity and abundance of animal populations across all 50 states. Since 2019, participants have used camera traps to document wildlife every September and October, coinciding with animal activity patterns and North American academic year starts. Understanding biodiversity through long-term monitoring is an important topic to study, because the knowledge obtained can help track populations and better understand wildlife responses to disturbances. Since Snapshot USA participants use the same methods and trapping season, the information we collect can be directly compared to other Snapshot USA locations. At Great Hill Forest …

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Drivers Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Behavior, Survival, And Population Growth In The Piedmont Of South Carolina, Michael Muthersbaugh May 2023

Drivers Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Behavior, Survival, And Population Growth In The Piedmont Of South Carolina, Michael Muthersbaugh

All Dissertations

Prey species adjust behaviors in response to various stimuli, responding to both top-down and bottom-up pressures. Large herbivores must attempt to avoid predation either through adjusting behaviors or seeking spatial or temporal refugia, which can scale up to influence individual fitness and ultimately population dynamics. Specifically, predation risk has a great potential to influence ungulate populations by impacting behaviors and survival. Our objective was to quantify ungulate behavioral and population response to a regionally important predator through a case study – white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) responses to coyotes (Canis latrans) on private lands in the Piedmont …

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Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt May 2023

Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt

All Theses

Bartram’s Bass are an endemic to the Upper Savannah River basin in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Bartram’s Bass are facing many risks, primary among them being hybridization with nonnative Alabama Bass. More recently, nonnative Alabama Bass and their hybrid congeners have been observed moving from reservoirs into tributaries where the remaining Bartram’s Bass populations exist. Thus, for Chapter 1 we sought to better understand the threat of nonnative gene spreading in tributary systems. To do this, we 1) quantified the movement of pure Alabama Bass, Bartram’s Bass, and their hybrids, 2) assessed correlations between movement and abiotic variables, …

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The Effect Of Algal Wastewater Treatment Systems On Microbial Communities, Alexis Leach May 2023

The Effect Of Algal Wastewater Treatment Systems On Microbial Communities, Alexis Leach

University Honors Program Senior Projects

In collaboration with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and Gross-Wen Technologies, I examined the microbial communities in experimental tertiary wastewater treatment systems employing algal phytoremediation. Three algal phytoremediation systems were examined: two vertical conveyor belt systems, known as the 10-foot belt system and the series 4 system, and a third system lacking a converter belt in which planktonic algae grew in a control pond. I used EcoPlates to measure carbon substrate utilization by microorganisms in each system. EcoPlates contain thirty-one different carbon substrates, with a dye that indicates microbial use of each substrate. I conducted a Principal …

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Consequences Of Host Life Cycles For Symbiont Genome Evolution, Ashley Elizabeth Dederich May 2023

Consequences Of Host Life Cycles For Symbiont Genome Evolution, Ashley Elizabeth Dederich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Aphids are small insects that feed exclusively on plant sap, a notoriously low source of nutrients due to the high sugar content and low amino acid content. To make up for these deficiencies in nutrition, aphids harbor Buchnera aphidicola, a bacterial endosymbiont that resides in a specialized organ called the bacteriome. B. aphidicola provides essential amino acids and vitamins for the aphid in exchange for a safe place to live. Over the course of the symbiosis (established 160 million years ago), B. aphidicola has lost much of its genome, including essential genes for cell envelope synthesis, DNA replication and …

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The Effects Of Habitat Isolation On Fine-Scale Genetic And Geographic Structure Of Populations Of Two Threatened Endemic Insects In Southern Nevada, Pseudocotalpa Giulianii And Icaricia Shasta Charlestonensis, Kristen Tovar May 2023

The Effects Of Habitat Isolation On Fine-Scale Genetic And Geographic Structure Of Populations Of Two Threatened Endemic Insects In Southern Nevada, Pseudocotalpa Giulianii And Icaricia Shasta Charlestonensis, Kristen Tovar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Assessing the role geographic isolation and ecological specialization have on phylogeographic patterns contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary history of a species and the processes that erode genetic diversity. I used mitochondrial and nuclear genomic sequences to assess whether habitat isolation has shaped the fine-scale patterns of present-day genetic structure and diversity in two threatened insect species endemic to southern Nevada. Pseudocotalpa giulianii (Coleoptera; Scarabaeidae) is a dune obligate scarab beetle endemic to only two small, isolated sand dunes in Nye County, Nevada, with a usable habitat of less than 4.2 km sq that is impacted by on-going degradation. …

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Lesson Plans In Astronomy, Ecology And Biology, Admin Stem For Success Apr 2023

Lesson Plans In Astronomy, Ecology And Biology, Admin Stem For Success

STEM for Success Showcase

This document contains various lesson plan ideas for concepts within the fields of biology, ecology, astronomy, and geology.

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Water Pollution And Ecology, Admin Stem For Success, Natalie Wilson Apr 2023

Water Pollution And Ecology, Admin Stem For Success, Natalie Wilson

STEM for Success Showcase

Research activity to teach students about water pollution

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The Effect Of Callery Pear (Pyrus Calleryana) On Soil Macrofauna (Diplopoda And Oligochaeta), Joseph M. Mcgee Apr 2023

The Effect Of Callery Pear (Pyrus Calleryana) On Soil Macrofauna (Diplopoda And Oligochaeta), Joseph M. Mcgee

Biology Theses

Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) is a relatively recent invader of North America. Its ecological effects are still being explored, including those affecting soil macrofauna such as millipedes (Diplopoda) and earthworms (Clitellata: Oligochaeta). These animals play important roles in many soil processes so understanding how they respond to invasive species is vital to soil health. A previous study exploring potential herbicide control was completed in 2019, however as of 2022 there are still treatment zones with little to no Callery pear alongside fully invaded plots, providing an optimal habitat mosaic for comparison. This allowed us to pursue two research …

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Evaluation Of Reproductive Phenology, Space Use, And Ecology Of The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In West-Central Louisiana, Chad Argabright Apr 2023

Evaluation Of Reproductive Phenology, Space Use, And Ecology Of The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In West-Central Louisiana, Chad Argabright

LSU Master's Theses

Nest site selection is a driving demographic force behind eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) populations. However, previous research was likely not focused on the actual time of nest site selection, considering that nest site selection is likely only able to occur on the day of the first egg being laid. My objective was to determine if selection for any vegetation characteristics was occurring on the first day of laying. I estimated the path taken from the roost to the nest on the first day of egg laying (i.e., laying path) using GPS data collected from 164 unique …

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Is Lineage C A Distinct Species?, Shiza Khan Apr 2023

Is Lineage C A Distinct Species?, Shiza Khan

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

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Deep Learning Can Be Used To Classify And Segment Plant Cell Types In Xylem Tissue, Sean Wu, Reem Al Dabagh, Fabien Scalzo, Helen Irene Holmlund Mar 2023

Deep Learning Can Be Used To Classify And Segment Plant Cell Types In Xylem Tissue, Sean Wu, Reem Al Dabagh, Fabien Scalzo, Helen Irene Holmlund

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Studies of plant anatomical traits are essential for understanding plant physiological adaptations to stressful environments. For example, shrubs in the chaparral ecosystem of southern California have adapted various xylem anatomical traits that help them survive drought and freezing. Previous studies have shown that xylem conduits with a narrow diameter allows certain chaparral shrub species to survive temperatures as low as -12 C. Other studies have shown that increased cell wall thickness of fibers surrounding xylem vessels improves resistance to water stress-induced embolism formation. Historically, these studies on xylem anatomical traits have relied on hand measurements of cells in light micrographs, …

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Cell Volume As A Determinant Of Virus-Mediated Population Growth In Ciliates, Jace Miller, John Paul Delong Phd Mar 2023

Cell Volume As A Determinant Of Virus-Mediated Population Growth In Ciliates, Jace Miller, John Paul Delong Phd

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Many protists and other small aquatic organisms consume virus particles, a behavior known as virovory. Some species of protists, such as the ciliate Halteria grandinella, can grow and divide using viruses as their sole food source. Other ciliate species have previously been shown to consume large quantities of viral particles, but it is unclear if they are able to support population growth with viruses alone. Because large ciliates have a higher energy demand, we hypothesize that they will be unable to support population growth on a virus-only diet. We fed nine ciliate species a diet of chloroviruses and found …

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Urban Ecology Of Birds In Mexico City, E. Elias Johnson, Byron J. Adams, Jerald B. Johnson, J. Jaime Zuniga-Vega Mar 2023

Urban Ecology Of Birds In Mexico City, E. Elias Johnson, Byron J. Adams, Jerald B. Johnson, J. Jaime Zuniga-Vega

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2023

How organisms persist under extreme conditions has received a lot attention in ecology. Some extreme environments are natural and pristine (e.g., Antarctica or the Atacama Desert), while others are highly impacted by humans (e.g., large cities). Unfortunately, we know little about the ecology of species that live in urban environments relative to those in pristine environments.

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Invasive Annual Grasses—Reenvisioning Approaches In A Changing Climate, David Archer, David Toledo, Dana M. Blumenthal, Justin Derner, Usda Ars Burns, Oregon, Kirk Davies, Erik Hamerlynck, Roger Sheley, Pat Clark, Fred Pierson, Charlie Clements, Beth Newingham, Brian Rector, John Gaskin, Carissa L. Wonkka, Kevin Jensen, Tom Monaco, Lance T. Vermeire, Stephen L. Young Feb 2023

Invasive Annual Grasses—Reenvisioning Approaches In A Changing Climate, David Archer, David Toledo, Dana M. Blumenthal, Justin Derner, Usda Ars Burns, Oregon, Kirk Davies, Erik Hamerlynck, Roger Sheley, Pat Clark, Fred Pierson, Charlie Clements, Beth Newingham, Brian Rector, John Gaskin, Carissa L. Wonkka, Kevin Jensen, Tom Monaco, Lance T. Vermeire, Stephen L. Young

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

For nearly a century, invasive annual grasses have increasingly impacted terrestrial ecosystems across the western United States. Weather variability associated with climate change and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are making even more difficult the challenges of managing invasive annual grasses. As part of a special issue on climate change impacts on soil and water conservation, the topic of invasive annual grasses is being addressed by scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service to emphasize the need for additional research and future studies that build on current knowledge and account for (extreme) changes in abiotic and biotic conditions. Much research …

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Winter Connectivity And Leapfrog Migration In A Migratory Passerine, Rafael Rueda‐Hernández, Christen M. Bossu, Thomas B. Smith, Andrea Contina, Ricardo Canales Del Castillo, Kristen Ruegg, Blanca E. Hernández-Baños Feb 2023

Winter Connectivity And Leapfrog Migration In A Migratory Passerine, Rafael Rueda‐Hernández, Christen M. Bossu, Thomas B. Smith, Andrea Contina, Ricardo Canales Del Castillo, Kristen Ruegg, Blanca E. Hernández-Baños

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Technological advances in migratory tracking tools have revealed a remarkable diversity in migratory patterns. One such pattern is leapfrog migration, where individuals that breed further north migrate to locations further south. Here, we analyzed migration patterns in the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) using a genetic‐based approach. We started by mapping patterns of genetic variation across geographic space (called a genoscape) using 386 individuals from 25 populations across the breeding range. We then genotyped an additional 230 samples from 31 migration stopover locations and 178 samples from 16 wintering locations to map patterns of migratory connectivity. Our analyses of …

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Genetic And Ecological Drivers Of Molt In A Migratory Bird, Andrea Contina, Christen M. Bossu, Daniel Allen, Michael B. Wunder, Kristen Ruegg Jan 2023

Genetic And Ecological Drivers Of Molt In A Migratory Bird, Andrea Contina, Christen M. Bossu, Daniel Allen, Michael B. Wunder, Kristen Ruegg

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

The ability of animals to sync the timing and location of molting (the replacement of hair, skin, exoskeletons or feathers) with peaks in resource availability has important implications for their ecology and evolution. In migratory birds, the timing and location of pre-migratory feather molting, a period when feathers are shed and replaced with newer, more aerodynamic feathers, can vary within and between species. While hypotheses to explain the evolution of intraspecific variation in the timing and location of molt have been proposed, little is known about the genetic basis of this trait or the specific environmental drivers that may result …

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The World Of Underground Ecology In A Changing Environment, Elsa Abs, Moira Hough Jan 2023

The World Of Underground Ecology In A Changing Environment, Elsa Abs, Moira Hough

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This special feature presents state-of-the-art soil ecological science and was sparked following the 2-day long online live event entitled “Ecology Underground” during the Ecological Society of America annual meeting of 2020. Here, we, the co-guest-editors of this special feature, present this body of research in context of the current state of the field. This issue highlights that we are currently in a hot time for microbial research in soil science. Specifically, we find that two themes emerge from this corpus as key next questions to answer to move the field forward. How do microbial processes scale up in space and …

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Microplastics In Wetlands Of West Central Ohio : Concentration And Distribution, Mitchell Link Jan 2023

Microplastics In Wetlands Of West Central Ohio : Concentration And Distribution, Mitchell Link

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands provide many valuable ecosystem services; however, an emerging global contaminant—microplastic (< 5 mm)—may be degrading this important resource. Few studies have extensively surveyed microplastic distribution in wetlands over a broad spatial area. Therefore, the goal of this study is to identify where microplastics are accumulating in wetlands, and whether there is any correlation between microplastic concentration and wetland quality. Soil samples were collected from 30 wetlands in west–central Ohio. Samples were physically separated, density separated, and digested. Average microplastic concentrations were 637 ± 494 items per kg soil per wetland. Higher quality wetlands are accumulating larger concentrations of microplastics. This relationship seems to be driven by greater accumulation of microplastics in forested wetlands than in wetlands surrounded by agriculture. There is no clear distribution pattern of microplastics within wetlands. These results provide insight into the role that wetlands have in association with microplastic accumulation.

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Hitting The Sweet Spot: Optimizing Camera Trapping Effort For Estimating Biodiversity In Coastal Environments, Ella Dipetto, Oleksii Dubovyk, Chi Wei, Angela Brierly, Eric Walters, Alex Teodorescu, Jillian Murphy Jan 2023

Hitting The Sweet Spot: Optimizing Camera Trapping Effort For Estimating Biodiversity In Coastal Environments, Ella Dipetto, Oleksii Dubovyk, Chi Wei, Angela Brierly, Eric Walters, Alex Teodorescu, Jillian Murphy

College of Sciences Posters

Wildlife trail cameras, or “camera traps”, have become an effective tool in ecological research and conservation management across a variety of ecosystems to monitor a wide range of taxa. Camera trapping allows for extended survey time in traditionally hard-to-survey environments and has greatly increased our ability to detect cryptic species. One question ecologists commonly face is how much sampling effort is required to accurately estimate community composition. Despite the abundant literature that uses camera trapping techniques, few studies have occurred in coastal saltmarsh ecosystems. These ecosystems are being lost at a rapid rate from land conversion, pollution, and other anthropogenic …

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