Biology Commons^™

Bugs In The Flux: Links Between Arthropod Diversity And Spatial Variation Of Soil Respiration In A Temperate Forest, Erin-Darby H. Mcclain

Theses and Dissertations

Soil respiration (Rs) is the largest terrestrial flux of carbon (C) to the atmosphere, with heterotrophic contributions to Rs varying spatially and temporally. While microbes are the primary and most thoroughly studied source of soil heterotrophic respiration (Rh), contributions from higher trophic organisms, including arthropods, are rarely quantified and poorly understood. Arthropod abundance and diversity correspond with variation in soil microclimate, which is influenced by site factors including canopy structure, site productivity, and disturbance. However, the extent to which these site factors influence arthropod abundance and diversity, and consequently, spatial variation in Rs is not known. The objective of our …

Factors Influencing The Discovery And Use Of Carrion By Vertebrate Scavengers From Human-Induced Mass-Mortality Events, Samantha J. Leivers, Michael J. Bodenchuk, Tyler A. Campbell, John M. Tomeček

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Scavengers play critical roles in ecosystem health and stability, and both biotic and abiotic factors can influence scavenger guild dynamics. Carrion is often limited both temporally and spatially on the landscape, but mass mortality events (MMEs)—in which there is an influx of carrion biomass on the landscape—may result in different scavenger community dynamics compared to when carrion is scarcely distributed. In this study, we investigated factors affecting the discovery and use of carrion by a natural, unharrassed scavenger guild during wild pig (Sus scrofa) MMEs conducted at East Foundation’s San Antonio Viejo Ranch in South Texas, USA. We …

Helminth Parasites Of Galápagos Mammals: A New Cestode Of The Genus Raillietina From The Endemic Rice Rat Nesoryzomys Swarthi And A Summary Of Parasites From Both Endemic And Invasive Rodents, Scott Lyell Gardner, Emma K. Chesley, Michael C. Friedle, Altangerel Tsogtsaikhan Dursahinhan

Scott L. Gardner Publications

In this first report of endoparasites from endemic land-mammals of the Galápagos Islands, we describe a new species of cestode of the genus Raillietina (Cyclophyllidea: Davaineidae) from a species of Nesoryzomys and summarize the extent of helminth parasitism in both oryzomyine endemics and introduced species of Rattus. Up to the current time, no helminth parasites have been reported from rodents of the Galápagos, and little work has yet been done describing and synthesizing Galápagos parasite diversity. In historical times, several species of autochthonous rodents have occupied the islands including: Nesoryzomys narboroughi Heller 1904, N. fernandinae Hutterer and Hirsch …

Methyl-Cpg-Binding Domain As A Protein Interaction Partner In Promoter Regulation And Neurodevelopment Through Evolutionary Expanded Entanglement, Stephanie M. Bilinovich, Surya B. Chhetri, Jackson T. Mitchell, Gage O. Leighton, Vladislav Jdanov, Jacob K. Zieba, Taylor W. Cook, Krysta L. Engel, Robert M. Vaughan, Humza Bhatti, Sadie L. Heeringa, Amy M. Wilstermann, Sophie Vanderweele, Akansha S. Das, Emily C. Sherry, Stephen A. Duncan, Katie L. Uhl, David C. Hinds, Mark Mackiewicz, Sarah K. Meadows, Kimberly M. Newberry, E. Christopher Partridge, Sara G. Cline, C. Joy Shepard, D. Casey Smith, Antonio Bradley, Daniel Vogt, Daniel B. Campbell, Lucas Pozzo-Miller, Caleb P. Bupp, Austin J. Goodyke, Surender Rajasekaran, Rebecca C. Knickmeyer, Benjie Blair

Research, Publications & Creative Work

There is increasing evidence that the methyl-binding domain (MBD) is a protein-protein interaction motif that can function independently of methylated DNA binding. The MBD proteins found throughout plants and invertebrates duplicated into multiple vertebrate DNA and non-DNA-binding members (MBD1, MBD2, MBD3, MBD4, MBD5, MBD6, MECP2, BAZ2A, BAZ2B, SETDB1, andSETDB2). Although many invertebrate species possess MBD proteins that can bind and recognize DNA methylation, the DNA-binding function has been independently lost multiple times, with only minor alterations to the protein interaction residues. The nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex, which interacts with MBD2/3 and is colocalized with MBD1/4 ChIP-Seq, is maintained …

Climate Change-Induced Shifts In Mediterranean Fungal Fruiting Phenology And Productivity, Rachel Demay

Theses and Dissertations

We used a 29-year dataset of mushroom fruiting from the Pinar Grande forest in northern Spain to investigate the effects of climate change on the phenology, productivity, and diversity of mycorrhizal and saprotrophic mushrooms. We investigated the long-term trends in fruiting season length, yield (by count, total weight, and average weight), and genus richness. Additionally, we identified associations between monthly temperature and monthly precipitation with these fungal responses across functional groups: mycorrhizal, saprotrophic, litter-decaying saprotrophic, and wood-decaying saprotrophic mushrooms, and the economically-important edible genera Boletus and Lactarius. We found that autumnal season length in the Pinar Grande has shortened over …

Soils From Different Solidago Altissima Clones Mediate Intraspecific Interactions In Schizachyrium Scoparium, Sarah Alharbi

Masters Theses

While previous studies have examined plant intraspecific competition and soil microbial effects separately, fewer studies have investigated how these factors interact, particularly in the context of genotype-specific soil conditioning effects. Plant-soil feedbacks can significantly alter interspecific competitive outcomes, yet few studies have examined how local variation in soil conditioning influences plant responses to density-dependent competition. I investigated how soil inocula derived from four Solidago altissima clones that were previously shown to differ in their soil conditioning effects (Foster et al., 2022) affected the growth and root traits of Schizachyrium scoparium across a gradient of intraspecific competition (1, 2, or 4 …

Food Finding Ability Does Not Predict Annual Survival In Winter Resident Birds, Aidan Hand

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Small non-migratory birds in temperate locations face many challenges to survive the winter. They must be able to find enough food, which is in decreased supply, to fuel the energetic demands of staying warm. Prior work has demonstrated that birds show individual variation in their foraging behaviors that could contribute to the discovery of new foraging patches, such as novel environment exploration. A better ability to discover new food sources could increase a bird’s chance of surviving the winter by increasing its access to new food patches. To test this hypothesis, we used radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled bird feeders to …

Genome-Wide Snp Analyses Reveal High Gene Flow Of Endemic Smallscale Croaker (Boesemania Microlepsis) In The Lower Mekong Basin, Quyen Dang Ha Vu, Christopher E. Bird, Oanh Thi Truong, Sang Quang Tran, Ellen E. Biesack, Amanda S. Ackiss, Kent E. Carpenter, Binh Truy Dang

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The Smallscale Croaker, Boesemania microlepis, is a valuable fishery resource in the Mekong River basin that lacks clear biological data to understand its basic ecology and conservation management priorities. This species is common in the southernmost floodplain of the Mekong which extends from Tonlé Sap in Cambodia to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. This floodplain is of particular biodiversity conservation concern because of the many upstream dams that restrict water flow in an ecology that relies heavily on a flood-pulse cycle. The literature regarding the biology B. microlepis in this region contains conflicting ideas that populations are both highly …

Patterns Of Kinship And Sociality In North American River Otters, Whitney E. Vickers

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Previous studies of river otters (Lontra canadensis) in coastal Humboldt County, California have documented varying social group compositions over the last four decades. It has been assumed that otters travel between coastal wetland sites, but the extent of movement has been unknown. Socially, river otters have been observed alone, in small family groups that consisted of an otter mom and pup(s), in larger helper groups that consisted of an otter mom, pup(s), and at least one additional adult or juvenile (helpers), and in all-adult social groups. Until now it was unknown whether the composition of social groups was …

The Role Of Floodplain Complexity In Wood Turtle Habitat Use, Laura S. Deming

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Wood turtles occupy cold, low-gradient riverine habitat throughout the northeastern United State and southeastern Canada. Stream alterations, such as dams, channel straightening, and floodplain development have diminished the natural hydrologic and sedimentation regimes that result in complex channel and floodplain geomorphology. Studies throughout the species’ range have quantified many aspects of their habitat, but none have quantified components of geomorphology of wood turtle sites. The goal of this study was to explore the role of stream channel and floodplain geomorphology in wood turtle habitat use, with specific objectives to (1) quantify components of stream channel and floodplain geomorphic complexity, (2) …

Variation In The Timing And Duration Of Rough-Skinned Newt (Taricha Granulosa) Larval Period In The Center Of Their Geographic Range (Humboldt County, California), Emmery R. Parker

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Rough-skinned newts (Taricha granulosa) occur along the Pacific coast of the U.S. from central California to southwestern Alaska at elevations from zero to 2,800 m. Across that range, the timing and duration of various life history events (i.e., hatching, metamorphosis, breeding, and oviposition) are largely unknown, although general trends have been observed in a few locales. Larval life stages are particularly important for determining amphibian population persistence, but there have been no formal studies describing the larval period of rough-skinned newts. Using minnow-trap and dip net surveys at nine lentic sites in northern Humboldt County, California (elevations 400 …

Genomic Differences And Parentage In West Virginia's Reintroduced Elk (Cervus Canadensis), Adam A.V. Cook

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Elk (Cervus canadensis) reintroductions have been common in the 20th and 21st centuries, yet 40% have failed to establish self-sustaining elk populations due to a lack of post-reintroduction demographic monitoring. Elk were reintroduced to West Virginia in 2016 following more than a century of absence after the species was extirpated in 1875. Elk were translocated to West Virginia from Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL) in eastern Kentucky and from Arizona. The two groups of elk differ in their subspecies, physiology, reintroduction history, connectivity, and habitat. Reintroductions create genetic risks such as the founder effect and …

Spatial Analysis Of American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) Distribution And Ecology In Kentucky’S Federal Lands, Jacob Raymond Pease

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic factors have been the cause of the decline of tree species across the globe. From unsustainable logging and development to disease and improper management, threats to forests have taken their toll. The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once an integral basal tree species in Appalachian forests, but chestnut blight drove the species to functional extinction by the mid-1900s. The recent creation of genetically modified chestnuts gives hope for future restoration of the species throughout its historical range. Despite blight resistance, effective restoration will require optimal site selection for finding and planting chestnuts, which will maximize limited resources. …

Tricolored Bat (Perimyotis Subflavus) Population Genetic Structure In The Southeastern United States, Laura Henderson

Master's Theses

Tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) have experienced substantial population losses from white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by the pathogenic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) which infects hibernating bats. Determining population genetic structure helps assess genetic diversity and the impacts of wildlife threats to populations. Pre-WNS data shows weak-to-negligible structure and panmictic P. subflavus populations at core portions of their range. However, current genetic data from their southeastern U.S. range is lacking. I sought to determine whether recent genetic data help resolve genetic structure among southeastern populations and assess genetic differences at two stages of impact: post-WNS and …

Urban Heat Island Effects On Arthropod Populations And Communities In Jacksonville, Fl, Eleanor G. Cronin

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The urban heat island (UHI) effect makes urban areas hotter than rural areas. Urban areas, and the extreme heat that comes with them, are becoming more common worldwide. If UHIs lead to changes in arthropod community diversity, then ecosystem structure and services could be disrupted. Previous UHI studies have investigated heat impacts on arthropod ecology, but many focus on one species while studies that consider thermal diversity within a single urban area have been limited. In Jacksonville, Florida, areas that are 12°C hotter than the coolest areas are considered local UHIs. The goal of this research is to investigate how …

Macroinvertebrate Communities And Food Web Structure In Tundra Streams Are Shaped By Substrate Size And Beaver Impoundments, Mathew K. Mervyn

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

North American beavers (Castor Canadensis) are expanding their range into the Arctic tundra as climate change drives earlier ice and snowmelt, and increased shrub cover. As ecosystem engineers, beavers build dams that alter water chemistry by creating impoundments within streams, trapping sediment and organic matter, and modifying nutrient cycling. This thesis evaluates how beaver impoundments interact with natural geomorphic variation in tundra streams and how impoundments affect tundra freshwater ecosystems in the western Canadian Arctic.

In Chapter 2, I compared water chemistry and benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) community composition across 16 stream reaches, including those with and without beaver dams, with …

The Impacts Of Permafrost Thaw Slumps On Arctic Stream Ecology, Maria Dolan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Climate change is intensifying permafrost thaw across terrain of the circumpolar Arctic. Increased temperatures and rainfall at northern latitudes have resulted in the expansion of thermokarst features such as retrogressive thaw slumps, which make previously frozen debris available for transport into nearby river systems. In the Peel Plateau, Northwest Territories, the mobilization of these materials exposes rivers to a large quantity of sediment and solutes that may act as a chronic, press disturbance, potentially altering stream food webs. Here, I examine if: 1) thaw slumps have driven changes to the physical and biological properties of slump impacted streams since an …

Quantifying Ecological Processes Predicting Barren-Ground Caribou (Ɂetthën; Rangifer Tarandus Groenlandicus) Occurrence Across A Heterogenous Northern Indigenous Protected And Conserved Area., Eric Jolin

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northern ecosystems are experiencing a period of rapid and unprecedented change, with implications for species distributions, mammal community dynamics, and habitat associations. Understanding the ecological processes that shape species distributions is crucial for developing effective conservation strategies that can adapt to such change. This study examines drivers of barren-ground caribou occurrence, a species of cultural and ecological significance, across Thaıdene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area, an ecologically intact landscape of high habitat heterogeneity straddling the treeline of the Northwest Territories. I use spatial and temporal variation in caribou detections generated by camera traps to test the relative importance of apparent competition, …

Timing Of Migration And Seasonal Movements Of Arctic Grayling (Thymallus Arcticus) In Relation To Water Temperature In The Kakisa River And Upper Mackenzie River, Nwt: Results From An Acoustic Telemetry Study., Levi Snook

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) are a cold-water salmonid that inhabit waterbodies throughout the circumpolar regions of the northern hemisphere. In the last decade, Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation members as well as local sport fishers, have observed lower catches of Arctic grayling during their annual spawning run in the Kakisa River, NWT. Many potential causes of this decline have been hypothesized including climate change and over harvesting. Outside of the general annual spawning activity in the headwaters of the Kakisa River, the ecology of the population, including post-spawn habitat use and migratory patterns, remained understudied. To address these knowledge gaps, acoustic …

Responses Of Native And Invasive Aquatic Vegetation To Changes In Water Depth In An Ozark Spring-Fed Pond, Daphne Miles

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Spring-fed aquatic ecosystems in the Ozark Highlands are characterized by stable water depths, clear water, and diverse aquatic vegetation (filamentous algae, submerged, floating, and emergent plants). Sudden changes in water depth can impact aquatic vegetation dynamics but the impacts of prolonged changes are poorly understood. I investigated seasonal and annual changes to aquatic vegetation abundance in a spring impoundment during and after a two-year period of low water depth that was caused by a broken outlet below an artificial dam. Water depth was significantly lower in 2020 and 2021 (low water years), compared to 2022 and 2023 (high water years). …

Restoration Of Giant River Cane (Arundinaria Gigantea) In Southwest Missouri, Lyndsey D. Rightnowar

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Giant river cane (Arundinaria gigantea), a native bamboo species, once dominated riparian landscapes across the southeastern United States but has declined to approximately 2% of its historic range. This study evaluated restoration techniques for giant cane in southwest Missouri by examining the influence of rhizome source (putative genotype), planting type, and restoration site on restoration success. I compared two planting types: greenhouse-to-field (G2F) transplanting, where rhizomes were first propagated in the greenhouse before planting, and field-to-field (F2F) transplanting, where rhizomes were directly transplanted from source canebrakes to restoration sites. Rhizomes were collected from four existing canebrakes in Taney …

The Influence Of Flower-Microbe Interactions On Bumble Bee Behavior And Gut Microbiome Composition, Success Chiamaka Ekemezie

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examines how microbial interactions in floral nectar and environmental variation influence bumble bee (Bombus spp.) foraging behavior and gut microbiome composition. Pollen germination experiments and behavioral assays in the lab tested whether Metschnikowia reukaufii (yeast) and Acinetobacter nectaris (bacteria) induce pollen germination and bursting in nectar and affect bee behavior subsequently. Both microbes reduced intact pollen, but bees did not alter flower preference. Furthermore, the study also assessed how floral and bee community composition shaped gut microbiome composition across six Missouri prairies. Using amplicon-sequenced fungal ITS and bacterial 16S rRNA genes, I found that fungal microbiome composition varied …

Bat Activity Across Urban Forest Plantings In Lexington, Kentucky, Grayson Marie Collier

Online Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization has led to major forest loss and negatively impacts ecosystem services. Urban reforestation efforts, such as Reforest the Bluegrass (RTB) in the Lexington-Fayette metropolitan area of Kentucky, have been implemented to address these negative effects, and to create habitat for forest-dependent wildlife such as bats. My research focused on assessing differences in bat activity across a 20-year chronosequence of RTB sites. Acoustic detectors were deployed across 10 different-aged plantings at 60 randomly-defined detector locations. Each planting was surveyed across 8 sampling periods from May – August 2023. Each recording session spanned ca. 7 consecutive nights, yielding a total of …

Comparing Multivalent Cross-Linked Sodium Alginate/ Montmorillonite Beads Containing Curcumin Or Cayenne Pepper As Drug Carriers And Their Antimicrobial Resistance, Shionainn Traynor, Shubham Sharma

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

The aim of the following work was to investigate and compare curcumin and cayenne pepper in microbeads composed of sodium alginate (SA) crosslinked with montmorillonite (MMT) to act as drug carriers and their antimicrobial resistance. The microbeads were prepared through ion-exchange in multivalent solutions of CaCl₂, MgCl₂ and AlCl₃. The microbeads were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and the time required for intercalation of curcumin and cayenne pepper with MMT. Simulated intestinal fluid (pH 7.3) and gastric fluid (pH 1.2) at 37°C were used for comparison in swelling studies. …

Editorial - Sure Journal Vol 6, Anne M. Friel, Eva Campion, Sinead Loughran

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

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Cyperus Blepharoleptos Maxent Ecological Niche Models, Samuel A. Schmid, Maxwell G. Gebhart, Gray Turnage

GRI Publications

Invasive species are one of the foremost threats to global biodiversity and predicting where they can inhabit is of primary concern for researchers and resource managers. Ecological niche models (ENMs) are a useful tool for addressing this problem. This study focuses on Cyperus blepharoleptos (Cuban bulrush), an aquatic sedge that is invasive in the southeastern United States. To model the ecological niche of C. blepharoleptos, 1,137 records were compiled from North and South America and partitioned into training and testing data. Five BioClim variables (BIO1, BIO7, BIO12, BIO14, and BIO15) were selected as environmental variables for modeling. Using Maxent, 12 …

Study Of The Brain Anatomy Of Three Extinct Marsupials: Thylacinus Cynocephalus, Thylacoleo Carnifex, And Silvabestius Johnnilandi, Francisco Garcia

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

Marsupials are pouched mammals that today are mainly found in Australasia and South America. Marsupials have proven to be quite intriguing to evolutionary biologists who note how some marsupials resemble placentals in anatomy due to convergent evolution, with both marsupials and placentals filling similar niches in their respective environments. As of today, studies interested in marsupial brain evolution have published descriptions of cranial endocasts for several species of marsupials, with the number of descriptions seeing a massive boost over the last 20 years with the arrival of CT imaging technology. However, no comprehensive study of brain evolution in marsupials has …

Spatiotemporal Patterns In Orbicella Faveolata Wound Regeneration As An Indicator Of Colony Health, Alexander G. Wheeler

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Anthropogenic (e.g. damage from anchors, scuba divers, tissue sampling) and natural disturbances (e.g. predation, storm damage) can result in wounding of live tissue on coral colonies. Wounding has been shown to detract from a common resource pool, increasing disease susceptibility and impairing coral growth and reproductive activity. Regeneration not only varies between species, but also between conspecifics in the same location. A colony’s capacity to regenerate tissue can be an indicator of a colony’s condition and resilience. Understanding the physiological and environmental factors that affect tissue regeneration alongside the ultimate impact of sampling (disease and predation correlations) are needed for …

Survey And Comparative Analysis Of Pollinator Diversity, Abundance, And Foraging Activity Of Diptera And Hymenoptera In Selected Habitats Of South Texas, Melissa Villarreal

Theses and Dissertations

With the declining bee population, non-bee pollinators can serve as an alternative source for pollination. Diptera is a potential source of untapped pollinator resources based on their abundance and visitation rate, but they are understudied in the field of pollination ecology. This study aimed to characterize the pollinator community in selected areas of South Texas. It focused on the Diptera and Hymenoptera families to compare their diversity, relative abundance, foraging behaviors, environmental influences, and vegetation associations. Active sampling and line transect were used in the survey to sample the Hymenoptera and Diptera communities to their family taxonomic rank. Statistical analyses …

Comparing Metabolism And Hypoxia Tolerance Of Native And Non-Native Florida Freshwater Fishes In Climate Change Scenarios, Benjamin A. Share

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

As climate change brings rising water temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations to freshwater bodies, it has become increasingly important to understand how this will affect ecosystems with established non-native or invasive species. Fishes of the family Cichlidae are the most pervasive non-native fishes in the Everglades and may increase their range further north under a changing climate. To better understand potential invasibility and competition with native fishes, the metabolism and hypoxia tolerance of non-native Blue Tilapia Oreochromis aureus was compared to native Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus when acclimated across a range of seasonal and projected temperatures. Intermittent-flow respirometry was …