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Full-Text Articles in Biodiversity
Bryophytes Of Goochland County, Virginia, Mikayla Quinn
Bryophytes Of Goochland County, Virginia, Mikayla Quinn
Honors Theses
Bryophytes are non-vascular land plants that include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. Although easier to overlook because of their smaller size, bryophytes are a fundamental part of the ecosystem. As such, maintaining record of their biodiversity is important. Yet, records of bryophyte species in Goochland County, VA were low compared to more thoroughly documented counties such as Prince Edward County. This study expands the documentation of bryophyte flora and presents a checklist of bryophyte species found Virginia’s Goochland County from 2020-2023. Fieldwork conducted at public and privately-owned properties throughout the county between January 2020 and March 2023 yielded 702 specimens that …
Csi Botany: Dna Barcode “Fingerprints” Identify Cryptic Urban Flora, Luis R. Vega
Csi Botany: Dna Barcode “Fingerprints” Identify Cryptic Urban Flora, Luis R. Vega
Theses
As short genomic markers, DNA barcodes can play a role in conservation by identifying cryptic species and hybrids when morphological approaches fall short. Here we present our application of barcodes to the identities of two wetland taxa as part of an ongoing floristic inventory of Van Cortlandt Park (VCP), Bronx, NY. Previous barcode data by Marriott et al. (2018) identified the VCP lake water lily as the exotic Nymphaea alba, rather than the native N. odorata as historically described. In addition, cattails in the park were historically identified as the native Typha latifolia and the exotic T. angustifolia …
Macrolichen Inventory Of The Horse Mountain Botanical Area, Six Rivers National Forest, California, Usa, Sarah Norvell Conway
Macrolichen Inventory Of The Horse Mountain Botanical Area, Six Rivers National Forest, California, Usa, Sarah Norvell Conway
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Macrolichen diversity and community composition was determined for an area of high botanical interest in the Coast Ranges of Northern California – the Horse Mountain Botanical Area (HMBA) in Six Rivers National Forest. The Coast Ranges have been suggested to have high epiphytic macrolichen diversity, yet detailed site-specific macrolichen surveys are lacking for the area. Here we present comprehensive data on macrolichens of the HMBA integrated with environmental metadata at the landscape level. Twenty 0.4 ha sampling plots were positioned across the varying habitats of the HMBA and macrolichens were intensively sampled from all substrata. Out of 888 total collections, …
Conifer Encroachment And Removal In A Northern California Oak Woodland: Influences On Ecosystem Physiology And Biodiversity, Gabriel S. Goff
Conifer Encroachment And Removal In A Northern California Oak Woodland: Influences On Ecosystem Physiology And Biodiversity, Gabriel S. Goff
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) woodlands across their range are becoming increasingly threatened by encroaching Douglas-fir encroachment (Pseudotsuga menziesii) as a result of fire exclusion. Using water potential (Ψ), stomatal conductance (gs), xylem water stable isotopes (dD), and three metrics of biodiversity, this study investigates the effects of conifer encroachment and removal at the ecosystem-scale. The study was set in an Oregon white oak woodland in northern California and compared three levels of encroachment before and after conifer removal. Findings indicate that heavily encroached stands have the least amount of water stress and gas …
Where Birds Chill: An Assessment Of The Habitat Preferences Of Birds Overwintering In Hudson Valley Forests, Elizabeth Claire Axley
Where Birds Chill: An Assessment Of The Habitat Preferences Of Birds Overwintering In Hudson Valley Forests, Elizabeth Claire Axley
Senior Projects Spring 2019
Many avian species overwinter in eastern North America; however, studies on bird populations are rarely undertaken during this critical survival time, and little is known as to their habitat preferences and foraging behavior. In this observational study, we performed a survey of birds overwintering in the Hudson Valley’s temperate, primarily-deciduous forests, assessing avian populations’ habitat preferences through the vegetative structural variables surrounding overwintering birds as they forage. Our results suggest that high canopy cover is critically important to predicting overwintering bird occupancy on a microhabitat scale. Moreover, overwintering birds preferentially occupy forest plots not dominated by sugar maples, in spite …
Can Increasing Grass-Fungal Endophyte Symbiotic Diversity Enhance Grassland Ecosystem Functioning?, Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
Can Increasing Grass-Fungal Endophyte Symbiotic Diversity Enhance Grassland Ecosystem Functioning?, Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences
The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is important in maintaining agroecosystem sustainability. Plant-microbe symbioses, such as exists between the grass tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceum) and the asexual fungal endophyte Epichloë coenophiala, can be utilized to enhance agroecosystem functions, such as herbivore resistance. “Novel” E. coenophiala strains that vary in the production of mammal- and insect-toxic compounds have been identified, inserted into tall fescue cultivars, and are planted in pastures globally. Novel fungal endophyte-tall fescue associations may have divergent ecosystem function effects. This study assessed effects of different fescue-endophyte symbiotic combinations on pasture ecosystem function, including aboveground …
Systematics And Biogeography Of The Cortinarius Violaceus Group And Sequestrate Evolution In Cortinarius (Agaricales), Emma Harrower
Systematics And Biogeography Of The Cortinarius Violaceus Group And Sequestrate Evolution In Cortinarius (Agaricales), Emma Harrower
Doctoral Dissertations
Phylogenetics is a powerful tool used for illuminating the diversity of life on Earth, their evolution and their ecology. I created a multi-gene phylogenetic tree of Cortinarius section Cortinarius and uncovered five previously overlooked species, increasing the number of species in the section from seven to twelve. All members of the clade possess both cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia and possess a pigment known as (R)-39,49-dihydroxybphenylalanine. Ancestral state reconstruction estimated that the ancestral host was most likely an angiosperm, switching hosts when encountering novel host species in new lands, and only C. violaceus associating with the Pinaceae in North America. Biogeographic analysis …
Lichen Conservation In Eastern North America: Population Genomics, Climate Change, And Translocations, Jessica Allen
Lichen Conservation In Eastern North America: Population Genomics, Climate Change, And Translocations, Jessica Allen
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Conservation biology is a scientific discipline that draws on methods from diverse fields to address specific conservation concerns and inform conservation actions. This field is overwhelmingly focused on charismatic animals and vascular plants, often ignoring other diverse and ecologically important groups. This trend is slowly changing in some ways; for example, increasing number of fungal species are being added to the IUCN Red-List. However, a strong taxonomic bias still exists. Here I contribute four research chapters to further the conservation of lichens, one group of frequently overlooked organisms. I address specific conservation concerns in eastern North America using modern methods. …
Diversity And Evolution Of Fruits In Cuscuta (Dodders; Convolvulaceae), Anna Ho
Diversity And Evolution Of Fruits In Cuscuta (Dodders; Convolvulaceae), Anna Ho
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Cuscuta (dodder) is a genus of roughly 200 species of obligate stem parasites with sub-cosmopolitan distribution. The fruit, generally regarded as a capsule, has a thin pericarp containing one to four seeds and opening at the base (circumscissile dehiscence; DE), or remaining closed (indehiscent; IN). IN has evolved multiple times in Cuscuta from DE, and is most common in the North American clades of subgenus Grammica. In addition, some species produce fruits that open irregularly. Characteristics pertaining to the fruits of Cuscuta are important as their seeds contribute most to their distribution and prevalence across the globe, and their reduced …