Biology Commons^™

Co-Option Of The Yolkless Oocyte Receptor For Crispr/Cas9 May Induce Transient Sterility In Female Drosophila Grimshawi Flies, Bronwyn Miller

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Evolutionary developmental biology has historically used generalist model organisms like Drosophila melanogaster. The Hawaiian Drosophilidae radiation, which occurred just 25 million years ago, is an ideal lineage for work in Evo-Devo. Hawaiian flies make up 25% of the world’s Drosophila species and extreme diversity is seen throughout the group. D. grimshawi is a generalist Hawaiian picture-wing fly that has served as a model for the Hawaiian Drosophilidae radiation. However, D. grimshawi’s power and use as a model organism is constrained by our lack of ability to manipulate its genome. In this work, I attempted to edit the genome of …

Efficacy Of Sediment Contaminant Remediation Of The Benthos In A Segment Of The Southern Branch Of The Elizabeth River, Colton Martin

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The bottom sediment of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, was historically contaminated with hydrocarbons from industrial sources especially wood treatment facilities. The Elizabeth River Project selected a section of the bottom off Money Point in the Southern Branch for a sediment contaminant remediation effort. Prior to initiation of remediation efforts, a survey occurred in summer 2010 to characterize the ecological condition of the benthic communities off Money Point compared to benthic communities of a benthic region across the channel and northwest of Money Point near Blows Creek. That study characterized the benthos of …

Cognitive Ecology Of Color Vision In Orchid Bees, Andreia Queiroz Santos A Figueiredo

Dissertations

Animals interact with their environment and acquire information from it. Information can be processed by their sensory systems and influence behavior, often mediated through mechanisms of decision-making and learning. Animal pollinators acquire information from flowers and use this information to make decisions about the flowers they visit. My research aimed to understand the role of color vision in a tropical pollinator, the orchid bee Euglossa dilemma. Chapter 1 is a review exploring pollination through the lens of prepared learning. Prepared learning proposes that animals learn some associations better than others due to an evolved match with the environment. I …

(Non)Parallel Developmental Mechanisms In Vertebrate Appendage Reduction And Loss, Samantha Swank, Thomas Sanger, Yoel E. Stuart

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Appendages have been reduced or lost hundreds of times during vertebrate evolution. This phenotypic convergence may be underlain by shared or different molecular mechanisms in distantly related vertebrate clades. To investigate, we reviewed the developmental and evolutionary literature of appendage reduction and loss in more than a dozen vertebrate genera from fish to mammals. We found that appendage reduction and loss was nearly always driven by modified gene expression as opposed to changes in coding sequences. Moreover, expression of the same genes was repeatedly modified across vertebrate taxa. However, the specific mechanisms by which expression was modified were rarely shared. …

Comparing Allelochemicals Of ​English Ivy And Native Georgia Plants​, Rebecca Senft

Symposium of Student Scholars

English Ivy (Hedera helix L.) is a common invasive plant causing biodiversity losses across the southeast and parts of the northwestern US. The mechanisms by which Ivy invades native ecosystems are not well understood but may include allelopathy, a process through which one species produces biochemicals that disrupt competitors. These biochemicals are often produced and exuded by roots into soil, making them difficult to isolate. This study used a soil-less hydroponic system and gas-chromatography mass spectroscopy to examine differences in the chemicals produced by roots of native Georgia plants and English Ivy. Our results suggest there are differences in the …

The Evolutionary Origins Of Autism Associated Genes And Their Role In Great Ape Socio-Communicative Behavior, Azeeza Abdulrauf

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a set of neurological disorders characterized by reduced social interactions and deficits in verbal and nonverbal communication. Although there are no clear genetic markers for ASD, studies have found associations between gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and patients diagnosed with ASD. For this study, the focus is on OXTR, AVPR1A, and FOXP2. OXTR is reported to regulate empathy and stress reactivity while AVPR1A is reported to regulate stress management and territorial aggression, as well as social bonding and recognition. FOXP2 is one of the first genes to be associated with both speech and language recognition …

Comparative Phylogeography Across Multiple Scales: Small Mammals, Their Ecology, Pathogens, And Drivers Of Diversification, Schuyler W. Liphardt

Biology ETDs

Comparative phylogeography has historically been defined as the study of how genetic variation of co-distributed species has been shaped by biogeographical history. This is a mature field of study out of which several techniques have been developed directed at identifying the role ecology and geography in diversification patterns across time. I employ the tools developed in classical comparative phylogeography across multiple taxonomic scales and across regions that historically have been understudied. My first two chapters study the complex history of host-switching, codiversification, and reassortment of hantaviruses in their mammal hosts across North America. By taking a host-centric comparative phylogeographic approach …

Resource Allocation And Phenotypic Plasticity Of Simultaneous Hermaphroditic Turtle Barnacles (Chelonibia Testudinaria), Kevin C. Cash

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

This research addresses the knowledge gap of phenotypic plasticity in a commonly found and important species of epizoic barnacle, Chelonibia testudinaria. Limited research has been published regarding how phenotypic expression is mediated the spatial distribution of barnacles on a mobile host. To investigate this potential relationship, barnacles were collected from the backs of turtles along the beaches of Fort Lauderdale Florida. These barnacles were assessed for various phenotypic traits as well as their corresponding spatial distribution on the turtle carapace. Barnacles were safely removed from the carapace using a chisel before their preservation in ethanol. Barnacles were then numbered …

The Ecological Role Of Cassiopea In Shallow Mangrove Habitats, David Marcel Durieux

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Upside-down jellyfish, Cassiopea sp., can be locally abundant in shallow mangrove habitats throughout the tropics and subtropics. Unlike other jellyfish, Cassiopea sp. are epibenthic. Due to this unique lifestyle and their ability to achieve high population densities, an understanding is needed of their ecological impacts both individually and in aggregations, particularly given that Cassiopea sp. ranges are expanding poleward due to global climate change. We quantified the fluid flow produced by Cassiopea sp. feeding currents and found that an average-sized Cassiopea sp. can transport over 200 l/h of water in the vertical excurrent jet of their feeding current. Populations of …

Who Are We? Highlighting Nuances In Asian American Experiences In Ecology And Evolutionary Biology, K. H. Nguyen, A. K. Akiona, C. C. Chang, V. B. Chaudhary, S. J. Cheng, S. M. Johnson, S. S. Kahanamoku, A. Lee, E. E. Deleon Sanchez, L. M. Segui, Richelle L. Tanner

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

"As ecologists and evolutionary biologists, it is important to recognize that issues surrounding AAPI do not exist in a vacuum and that these issues affect some of our students and colleagues in and outside of the classroom and lab. Recently, anti-Asian racism has been brought to the forefront of US society. Though media attention has primarily focused on how COVID-19 fears motivated both violent and nonviolent racist incidents against East Asians in 2020 (e.g., Chinese and Taiwanese Americans) (Tessler et al. 2020), attacks on other AAPI groups, such as South and Southeast Asians (e.g., Filipino, Pakistani, and Vietnamese Americans) (Truong …

Evolutionary Mechanisms For Host Resistance To Tumor Growth And Subsequent Cancer Cell Counter-Adaptations, Arig Ibrahim Hashim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is well-recognized as an evolutionary system, as first proposed by Cairns and Nowell more than 60 years ago. In an evolutionary context, cancers growing in vivo typically consist of heterogeneous subpopulations of cells that interact with each other and with host cells through selection forces operating at many temporal and spatial scales. Moreover, the tumor environment comprises more than just cancer cells; it includes a rich cancer stroma and cancer-driving molecules such as cytokines and metabolites. The tumor’s environment comprises intratumoral heterogeneity that often leads to therapy resistance attributed to the essential roles of many genetic and nongenetic mechanisms. …

Cetacean Acousticwelfare In Wild And Managed-Care Settings: Gaps And Opportunities, Paige E. Stevens, Heather Hill, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

Cetaceans are potentially at risk of poor welfare due to the animals’ natural reliance on sound and the persistent nature of anthropogenic noise, especially in the wild. Industrial, commercial, and recreational human activity has expanded across the seas, resulting in a propagation of sound with varying frequency characteristics. In many countries, current regulations are based on the potential to induce hearing loss; however, a more nuanced approach is needed when shaping regulations, due to other non-hearing loss effects including activation of the stress response, acoustic masking, frequency shifts, alterations in behavior, and decreased foraging. Cetaceans in managedcare settings share the …

Intraspecific Variation Mediates Density Dependence In A Genetically Diverse Plant Species, Andrii Zaiats, Matthew J. Germino, Marcelo D. Serpe, Bryce Richardson, T. Trevor Caughlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Interactions between neighboring plants are critical for biodiversity maintenance in plant populations and communities. Intraspecific trait variation and genome duplication are common in plant species and can drive eco-evolutionary dynamics through genotype-mediated plant-plant interactions. However, few studies have examined how species-wide intraspecific variation may alter interactions between neighboring plants. We investigate how subspecies and ploidy variation in a genetically diverse species, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), can alter the demographic outcomes of plant interactions. Using a replicated, long-term common garden experiment that represents range-wide diversity of A. tridentata, we ask how intraspecific variation, environment, and stand age mediate …

The Role Of Zingiberales Shared Evolutionary History And Leaf Traits In Structuring Rolled-Leaf Beetle Assemblages In A Tropical Forest, José Miguel Chaves Fallas

Dissertations

Understanding how local assemblages of plants and animals are structured is a central challenge for evolutionary ecology. Tropical assemblages are high in species numbers and in variety of ecological interactions, providing unique multispecies biological systems to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses about community assembly. The objective of this dissertation was to understand the role of Zingiberales shared evolutionary history and plant traits for structuring the rolled-leaf beetle (Cephaloleia and Chelobasis, Chrysomelidae) assemblage in a lowland wet forest (La Selva Biological Station) of Costa Rica.

In chapter I studied the evolution of physical, nutritional, and chemical leaf traits, how …

Comparing An Exponential Respiration Model To Alternative Models For Soil Respiration Components In A Canadian Wildfire Chronosequence (Fireresp V1.0), John Zobitz, Heidi Aaltonen, Xuan Zhou, Frank Berninger, Jukka Pumpanen, Kajar Köster

Faculty Authored Articles

Forest fires modify soil organic carbon and suppress soil respiration for many decades after the initial disturbance. The associated changes in soil autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration from the time of the forest fire, however, are less well characterized. The FireResp model predicts soil autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration parameterized with a novel dataset across a fire chronosequence in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada. The dataset consisted of soil incubation experiments and field measurements of soil respiration and soil carbon stocks. The FireResp model contains submodels that consider a Q10 (exponential) model of respiration compared to models of heterotrophic respiration …

Rebecca Fillyaw Ms Thesis Data For Publication In The Journal Sustainability, Rebecca Fillyaw, Melinda Donnelly, Linda Walters

CEELAB Research Data

By combatting erosion and increasing habitat, mangrove living shorelines are an effective alternative to hard-armoring in tropical and subtropical areas. An experimental red mangrove living shoreline was deployed within Mosquito Lagoon, Florida, using a factorial design to test the impact of mangrove age, breakwater presence, and mangrove placement on mangrove survival within the first year of deployment. Mixed mangrove age treatments were included to identify if seedling (11-month-old) survival could be enhanced by the presence of transitional (23-month-old) and adult (35 to 47-month-old) mangroves. Environmental factors were monitored to detect possible causes of mangrove mortalities. Approximately half (50.6%) of mangroves …

Desktop Scanning Electron Microscopy In Plant-Insect Interactions Research: A Fast And Effective Way To Capture Electron Micrographs With Minimal Sample Preparation, Sakshi Watts, Ishveen Kaur, Sukhman Singh, Bianca Jimenez, Jesus Chavana, Rupesh R. Kariyat

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

The ability to visualize cell and tissue morphology at a high magnification using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has revolutionized plant sciences research. In plant-insect interactions studies, SEM based imaging has been of immense assistance to understand plant surface morphology including trichomes (plant hairs; physical defense structures against herbivores (Kaur and Kariyat, 2020a, 2020b; Watts and Kariyat, 2021), spines, waxes, and insect morphological characteristics such as mouth parts, antennae, and legs, that they interact with. While SEM provides finer details of samples, and the imaging process is simpler now with advanced image acquisition and processing, sample preparation methodology has lagged. The …

Algal Biodiversity Survey Of The Middle Chattahoochee River Using Dna Metabarcoding, Amanda Howell

Theses and Dissertations

Aquatic plants play vital roles in water systems by providing ecological services, and one group that is understudied is algae. Algae play a crucial role in water systems as bioindicators and primary producers. They can be challenging to identify with the naked eye, so researchers have been using DNA metabarcoding, where DNA belonging to specific taxa can be isolated and identified from water samples. The objective of this study was to conduct an algal biodiversity survey on the middle Chattahoochee River system in Georgia. Water samples (1L) were filtered and sent to RTL Genomics for sequencing and processing; the data …

Assessing The Dispersal And Recruitment Of Stocked Walleye Fry In A Northern Minnesota Chain Of Lakes, Joseph W. Amundson

Biology Graduate Theses

As part of Minnesota's Walleye Sander vitreus egg take practice, 10% of eggs taken for hatchery purposes are stocked back into the donor lake. For Andrusia, part of the Cass Lake Chain of Lakes (Chain), this practice can result in elevated fry densities (mean: 17,000 fry/littoral hectare). However, if fry are able to disperse and use all available littoral hectares throughout the Chain, fry densities would be intermediate to typical stocking densities for Minnesota lakes (1,200 - 2,400 fry/littoral hectare). In 2016-2018, 3-3.5 million fry were mass-marked by immersion in oxytetracycline (OTC) prior to stocking into Andrusia to allow differentiation …

Can Providing Positive Interactions With Snakes Change A Person’S Perception Of Dangerous Wildlife Interactions?, Bethany Walker

Theses

Due to a long co-evolutionary history between placental mammals and reptiles, primates demonstrate aversive responses to snakes. In humans, this can result in ophidiophobia, or the fear of snakes which can arise due to cultural backgrounds, traumatic experiences, or fear instilled by others. However, these reptiles fill essential roles in ecosystems. Conservation and outreach efforts are important to help our population understand snakes’ role in our lives and the state’s broader biodiversity. Negative experiences or preconceptions about snakes can make this message hard to share with the public. Educators can help prevent intentional harm to some of these organisms through …

Fisheries Science Update – October 2021: West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Fisheries Occasional Publications

Key points: 2021 stock assessment outcomes • The West Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource (WCDSR) is halfway into a 20-year recovery plan following a period of overfishing in the 1990s and 2000s. • This latest assessment provides an important “health check” on the recovery status. • The recovery plan is based on maintaining recreational (including charter) and commercial sector’s total fishing mortality below catch limits and protecting key spawning aggregations to recover the WCDSR by 2030. • The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) tracks recovery progress by undertaking weight of evidence stock assessments of WCDSR indicator species dhufish …

How Birds During Migration Maintain (Oxidative) Balance, Scott R. Mcwilliams, Wales A. Carter, Clara Cooper-Mullin, Kristen J. Demoranville, Abigail E. Frawley, Barbara J. Pierce, Megan Skrip

Biology Faculty Publications

Animals dynamically adjust their physiology and behavior to survive in changing environments, and seasonal migration is one life stage that demonstrates these dynamic adjustments. As birds migrate between breeding and wintering areas, they incur physiological demands that challenge their antioxidant system. Migrating birds presumably respond to these oxidative challenges by up-regulating protective endogenous systems or accumulating dietary antioxidants at stopover sites, although our understanding of the pre-migration preparations and mid-migration responses of birds to such oxidative challenges is as yet incomplete. Here we review evidence from field and captive-bird studies that address the following questions: (1) Do migratory birds build …

Against The Odds: Hybrid Zones Between Mangrove Killifish Species With Different Mating Systems, Waldir M. Berbel-Filho, Andrey Tatarenkov, George Pacheco, Helder M. V. Espírito-Santo, Mateus G. Lira, Carlos Garcia De Leaniz, John C. Avise, Sergio M. Q. Lima, Carlos M. Rodriguez Lopez, Sofia Consuegra

Horticulture Faculty Publications

Different mating systems are expected to affect the extent and direction of hybridization. Due to the different levels of sexual conflict, the weak inbreeder/strong outbreeder (WISO) hypothesis predicts that gametes from self-incompatible (SI) species should outcompete gametes from self-compatible (SC) ones. However, other factors such as timing of selfing and unilateral incompatibilities may also play a role on the direction of hybridization. In addition, differential mating opportunities provided by different mating systems are also expected to affect the direction of introgression in hybrid zones involving outcrossers and selfers. Here, we explored these hypotheses with a unique case of recent hybridization …

Global Population Divergence Of A Cosmopolian Desert Plant, Victor Ryan Alfaro

Biology ETDs

Genetic and phenotypic variation can have different patterns within a species if it has populations with contrasting histories. Populations can have discrete differences that are shaped by different evolutionary scenarios, but within each population, range, or region, traits and association with fitness can also be affected by both edaphic and landscape variation. For my dissertation, I surveyed and experimentally analyzed variation and adaptive potential in Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii), a desert annual that has endemic, invasive, and agricultural populations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Although my multi-trait analysis generated complex results, my findings can be applied to …

Mitonuclear Mismatch Is Associated With Increased Male Frequency, Outcrossing, And Male Sperm Size In Experimentally-Evolved C. Elegans, Brent William Bever

Dissertations and Theses

We provide the first controlled study of how male frequencies and rates of outcrossing evolve in response to mitonuclear mismatch by allowing replicate lineages of C. elegans nematodes containing either mitochondrial or nuclear mutations of electron transport chain (ETC) genes to evolve under three sexual systems: facultatively outcrossing (wildtype), obligately selfing, and obligately outcrossing. In partial support of a tenet of the mitonuclear sex hypothesis, which predicts that outcrossing will be favored in cases of mitonuclear mismatch, we found evolution of increased male frequency in at least one replicate line of all four ETC mutant backgrounds tested--nuclear isp-1, mitochondrial …

Kelp Morphology And Herbivory Are Maintained Across Latitude Despite Geographic Shift In Kelp-Wounding Herbivores, Nicholas P. Burnett, Eric J. Armstrong, Rosemary Romero, Charlotte C. Runzel, Richelle L. Tanner

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Herbivores can drastically alter the morphology of macroalgae by directly consuming tissue and by inflicting structural wounds. Wounds can result in large amounts of tissue breaking away from macroalgae, amplifying the damage initially caused by herbivores. Herbivores that commonly wound macroalgae often occur over only a portion of a macroalga’s lifespan or geographic range. However, we know little about the influence of these periodic or regional occurrences of herbivores on the large-scale seasonal and geographical patterns of macroalgal morphology. We used the intertidal kelp Egregia menziesii to investigate how the kelp’s morphology and the prevalence of two prominent kelp-wounding herbivores …

Phenotype Bias Determines How Natural Rna Structures Occupy The Morphospace Of All Possible Shapes, Fatme Ghaddar, Dr Kamaludin Dingle, Dr Petr Sulc, Prof Ard A. Louis

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The relative prominence of developmental bias versus natural selection is a long standing controversy in evolutionary biology. Here we demonstrate quantitatively that developmental bias is the primary explanation for the occupation of the morphospace of RNA secondary structure (SS) shapes. By using the RNAshapes method to define coarse-grained SS classes, we can measure the frequencies that non-coding RNA SS shapes appear in nature. Our main findings are firstly that only the most frequent structures appear in nature; the vast majority of possible structures in the morphospace have not yet been explored. Secondly, and perhaps more surprisingly, these frequencies are accurately …

Otoliths Of South-Western Australian Fish: A Photographic Catalogue, Chris Dowling, Kim Smith, Elaine Lek, Joshua Brown

Fisheries Research Reports

Due to the species-specific nature of otoliths and given they are often the only part of the fish preserved when fish die, otolith catalogues can be used in numerous applications, such as diet studies in fish eating animals, including pinnipeds, fish and sea birds; archaeological purposes such as reconstructing indigenous people’s diets from otoliths found in middens or evolutionary history of fish species by comparing fossilized otoliths. Given the unique mixture of subtropical and temperate fish, including many endemic species that occur off the southwest corner of WA having a catalogue for this area is extremely important for people working …

Initial Assessment Of Potential Relationships Between Plant Communities And The Soil Microbiome In Closed Forest And Longleaf Pine Restoration Sites., Sean Davis, Ian Kennedy

Symposium of Student Scholars

Longleaf pine is an endangered ecosystem characterized by high levels of biodiversity.

Our study took place in the Sheffield Wildlife Management Area located in the Piedmont ecoregion of Georgia in Paulding County. Fifty plots of 10 x 30 m² were setup on south or north facing slopes, some in covered forest, and some in an area actively being restored for the longleaf pine. All trees above 1.37 m were identified and had their diameter measured, and species diversity, relative density, dominance, and frequency were determined. Herbaceous plant cover percentages were recorded in select plots. Soil samples were also collected …

Laryngeal Vocals In Old World Locals: Air Sacs Usage In Bonobos, Chelsea Trenbeath

Symposium of Student Scholars

Except for humans, extant great apes have evolutionarily conserved lateral ventricular air sacs extending from laryngeal saccules. Humans are the only species of Hominidae that lack this anatomical feature attached to the primary vocal apparatus. As we are the only species that produces spoken language, this association has led to hypothesis that the loss of lateral ventricular air sacs was necessary for the evolution of spoken language. However, why these sacs are conserved in all other hominids remains unclear. Computer modeling has indicated that air sacs may increase resonance properties, but there are no data from great apes indicating which …