Biology Commons^™

Species Composition And Visitation Frequency Of Birds And Mammals At A Bait Station In Northern Minnesota, Adam Roiko

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors program.

The Biology Of Canadian Weeds. 131. Polygonum Aviculare L., Mihai Costea, François J. Tardif

Biology Faculty Publications

A review and assessment of biological information as well as personal data are provided for Polygonum aviculare in Canada. The species has been revised taxonomically and the six subspecies that occur in Canada are presented. Three of the subspecies, P. aviculare subsp. aviculare, P. aviculare subsp. neglectum and P. aviculare subsp. depressum are weeds introduced to Canada from Europe. A fourth subspecies, P. aviculare subsp. buxiforme is apparently native to North America. The geographical distribution of the latter four subspecies is very wide. Plants exhibit a high phenotypic plasticity and genetic variability, and they easily adapt to a multitude …

The Metalloprotease Of Listeria Monocytogenes Controls Cell Wall Translocation Of The Broad-Range Phospholipase C, P.S. Marie Yeung, Nicholas Zagorski, Helene Marquis

Biological Sciences

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive bacterial pathogenthat multiplies in the cytosol of host cells and spreads directlyfrom cell to cell. During cell-to-cell spread, bacteria becometemporarily confined to secondary vacuoles. The broad-rangephospholipase C (PC-PLC) of L. monocytogenes contributes tobacterial escape from secondary vacuoles. PC-PLC requires cleavageof an N-terminal propeptide for activation, and Mpl, a metalloproteaseof Listeria, is involved in the proteolytic activation of PC-PLC.Previously, we showed that cell wall translocation of PC-PLCis inefficient, resulting in accumulation of PC-PLC at the membrane-cellwall interface. In infected cells, rapid cell wall translocationof PC-PLC is triggered by a decrease in pH and correlates withcleavage …

Hunters Ring Dinner Bell For Ravens: Experimental Evidence Of A Unique Foraging Strategy, Crow White

Biological Sciences

We have long known that corvids are adaptively flexible in behavior, but have rarely tested their flexibility and creativity in solving problems outside the laboratory. Through a carefully controlled experiment conducted in the wild, I have found that Common Ravens (Corvus corax) fly toward gunshot sounds, presumably in order to locate animal gut piles left by hunters. This is the first conclusive evidence of any scavenger species pursuing gunshots. Furthermore, ravens exhibited this behavior only when gunshots were fired from within forested habitat, when the shots may be most valuable to them for locating gut piles. Interestingly, raven behaviors suggest …

A New Species Of Ceraclea (Trichopterma:Leptoceridae) Preying On Snails, John C. Morse, David R. Lenat

Publications

Ceraclea joannae, new species, feeds on the freshwater snail Somatogyrus virginicus Walker (Hydrobiidae). Our study is the first report of prey other than sponges for a Ceraclea species and the first report of snail predation by Trichoptera larvae in North America. Ceraclea joannae larvae and adults resemble those of C. diluta (Hagen); however, the larva of the new species has a dark head, sickle-shaped mandibles, and a dark pronotum except for a pair of unique, conspicuous, oblique, white bands; the male differs in the slightly longer superior appendages, more nearly straight ventral margins of tergum X, slightly stouter inferior …

The Glucose And Insulin Responsiveness Of The Rat Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Promoter, Daryl Arkwright-Keeler

Dissertations

The regulation of expression of some enzymes involved in glucose homeostasis and fat metabolism requires both insulin and glucose to elicit an effect, while the regulation of others requires only one. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), an important enzyme involved in glucose homeostasis, has been shown to be transcriptionally regulated by carbohydrate feeding in rat liver, a diet regime that increases the levels of both glucose and insulin. Our lab had previously shown that insulin induces expression of G6PDH, thus we wanted to determine if glucose also induced G6PDH expression and if so, are the glucose and insulin responses mediated through identical …

The Α1 Chain Of Collagen Xi, Posttranslational Modifications, And The Pericellular Matrix, Katey Irwin

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Collagen type XI is a quantitatively minor but developmentally essential component of the extracellular matrix and as a secreted protein is subject to a variety of posttranslational modifications. These modifications have been shown to influence the affinity of endogenous binding between collagen XI and various extracellular matrix components. The three dimensional structure of the amino terminal domain (Npp) of this molecule has been determined through homology modeling. As a result a putative heparan sulfate binding site has been predicted. Heparan sulfate is an abundant sugar found on the surface of most cells and on proteoglycan molecules of the pericellular matrix. …

Role Of A Conserved Glutamate Residue In The Escherichia Coli Seca Atpase Mechanism, Christopher R. Zito, Edwin Antony, John F. Hunt, Donald B. Oliver, Manju M. Hingorani

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Escherichia coli SecA uses ATP to drive the transport of proteins across cell membranes. Glutamate 210 in the “DEVD” Walker B motif of the SecA ATP-binding site has been proposed as the catalytic base for ATP hydrolysis (Hunt, J. F., Weinkauf, S., Henry, L., Fak, J. J., McNicholas, P., Oliver, D. B., and Deisenhofer, J. (2002) Science 297, 2018–2026). Consistent with this hypothesis, we find that mutation of glutamate 210 to aspartate results in a 90-fold reduction of the ATP hydrolysis rate compared with wild type SecA, 0.3 s^–1versus 27 s^–1, respectively. SecA-E210D also releases ADP …

Bufadienolides In The Chemical Defenses Of The Toads, Bufo Americanus And Bufo Fowleri, Catherine E. Merovich

Dissertations

I investigated the steroidal chemical defenses (bufadienolides) of Bufo americanus and Bufo fowleri. By the nature of their complex, biphasic life cycles, toads, like other amphibians are important components of aquatic and terrestrial habitats and are prey to numerous invertebrates and vertebrates. Bufadienolides are presumed to be important anti-predatory compounds although much of their chemical ecology is poorly understood. I investigated (1) ontogenetic variation in bufadienolides, (2) bufadienolides from adult parotoid secretion, (3) effectiveness of bufadienolides against a terrestrial predator, and (4) effectiveness of bufadienolides against an aquatic predator. I hypothesized that B. americanuswould have a more extensive …

Changes In Glial Cell Line Derived Neurotrophic Factor And Nerve Growth Factor Expression With Development, Age, Exercise And Hypertension, Bertha C. Rebimbas-Cohen

Dissertations

Neurotrophic factors are important for neuronal growth, survival, and maintenance of cell phenotype. Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) affects sensory, autonomic and somatic motor neurons and nerve growth factor (NGF) affects sensory and sympathetic neurons. NGF and GDNF are produced by cardiac muscle and have potent effects on sensory and autonomic neuronal innervation of blood vessels. Neural innervation plays a key role in blood vessel function. Since neural innervation of blood vessels may be regulated by growth factors, we wanted to determine what changes would occur to NGF and GDNF levels with maturity, exercise and hypertension.

Changes in GDNF …

Function And Role Of Synaptotagmin Proteins In Yeast, Aaron J. Yang

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In the genome of the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a family of proteins is encoded that resembles the Ca2+ sensing synaptotagmins present in neuronal cells of higher eukaryotes. The synaptotagmins couple a rise in cytosolic Ca2+ with synaptic vesicle formation and release during the process of vesicular trafficking and exocytosis. This process is important in higher organisms for neurotransmitter release and signal transmission. At least a dozen synaptotagmin isoforms exist, some that are expressed outside the nervous system, suggesting that the synaptotagmin proteins might regulate membrane trafficking in a variety of different cell types. The synaptotagmin proteins in higher …

Increased Action Potential Firing Rates Of Layer 2/3 Pyramidal Cells In The Prefrontal Cortex Are Significantly Related To Cognitive Performance In Aged Monkeys, Yu Ming Chang, Douglas L. Rosene, Ronald J. Killiany, Lisa A. Mangiamele, Jennifer I. Luebke

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The neurobiological substrates of significant age-related deficits in higher cognitive abilities mediated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are unknown. To address this issue, whole-cell current-clamp recordings were used to compare the intrinsic membrane and action potential (AP) firing properties of layer 2/3 pyramidal cells in PFC slices from young and aged behaviorally characterized rhesus monkeys. Most aged subjects demonstrated impaired performance in Delayed Non-Match to Sample (DNMS) task acquisition, DNMS 2 min delay and the Delayed Recognition Span task. Resting membrane potential and membrane time constant did not differ in aged relative to young cells, but input resistance was significantly …

Functional Genomics Of Carboxyltransferase, Nathan R. Ranney

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Taxonomic Study Of The Lichen Genera Canomaculina, Canoparmelia And Rimelia In The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Erin Boente '05

Honors Projects

The 1997 National Park Service checklist of lichen species in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) included only two Rimelia species (R. reticulata and R. subisidiosa), two Canoparmelia species (C caroliniana and C crozalsiana) and one Canomaculina species (as Rimeliella subtinctorium). Previous field and laboratory work by Jonathan Dey, often with Illinois Wesleyan University undergraduate student assistants, pointed to the presence of additional species of Rimelia in the GSMNP. Thus, we examined all specimens of Rimelia, Canoparmelia and Canomaculina previously collected in the GSMNP and deposited in the lichen herbarium at Illinois Wesleyan University in order to update the …

An Autonomous Vehicle Approach For Quantifying Bioluminescence In Ports And Harbors, Mark A. Moline, Paul Bissett, Shelley Blackwell, James Mueller, Jeff Sevadjian, Charles Trees, Ron Zaneveld

Biological Sciences

Bioluminescence emitted from marine organisms upon mechanical stimulation is an obvious military interest, as it provides a low-tech method of identifying surface and subsurface vehicles and swimmer tracks. Clearly, the development of a passive method of identifying hostile ships, submarines, and swimmers, as well as the development of strategies to reduce the risk of detection by hostile forces is relevant to Naval operations and homeland security. The measurement of bioluminescence in coastal waters has only recently received attention as the platforms and sensors were not scaled for the inherent small-scale nature of nearshore environments. In addition to marine forcing, many …

Monitoring Water Transparency And Diver Visibility In Ports And Harbors Using Aircraft Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, Charles C. Trees, Paul W. Bissett, Heidi Dierssen, David D.R. Kohler, Mark A. Moline, James L. Mueller, Richard E. Pieper, Michael S. Twardowski, J. Ronald V. Zaneveld

Biological Sciences

Diver visibility analyses and predictions, and water transparency in general, are of significant military and commercial interest. This is especially true in our current state, where ports and harbors are vulnerable to terrorist attacks from a variety of platforms both on and below the water (swimmers, divers, AUVs, ships, submarines, etc.). Aircraft hyperspectral imagery has been previously used successfully to classify coastal bottom types and map bathymetry and it is time to transition this observational tool to harbor and port security. Hyperspectral imagery is ideally suited for monitoring small-scale features and processes in these optically complex waters, because of its …

Targeting Of Arf-1 To The Early Golgi By Membrin, An Er-Golgi Snare, Akira Honda, Omayma S. Al-Awar, Jesse C. Hay, Julie G. Donaldson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Arf and Rab family GTPases regulate membrane traffic in cells, yet little is known about how they are targeted to distinct organelles. To identify sequences in Arf-1 necessary for Golgi targeting, we examined the localization of chimeras between Arf-1 and Arf-6. Here, we identify a 16-amino acid sequence in Arf-1 that specifies Golgi targeting and contains a motif (MXXE) that is important for Arf-1 binding to membrin, an ER-Golgi SNARE protein. The MXXE motif is conserved in all Arfs known to localize to the Golgi and enables Arf-1 to localize to the early Golgi. Arf-1 lacking these 16 aa can …

Phylogenetic Relationship Of Forest Spiny Pocket Mice (Genus Heteromys) Inferred From Mitochondrial And Nuclear Markers With Implications For Species Boundaries, Malinda Wallentine Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

I constructed a best estimate phylogeny based on congruence of multiple data sources. In recent years molecular data has been used both to construct phylogenies of taxonomic groups and to aid in the delimitation of new species. I generated and analyzed sequence data for forest spiny pocket mice (Genus Heteromys) for the mitochondrial gene cyt b (1143 bp) and two nuclear gene segments MYH2 (252 bp) and EN2 (189 bp). I used maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses to infer relationships among species and to provide a framework for using a species delimitation method to investigate the possibility of multiple …

A Multidisciplinary Comparison Of Rules-Driven Writing: Similarities In Legal Writing, Biology Research Articles, And Computer Programming, Karen L. Koch

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Complete Genome Sequence Of The Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacterium Lactobacillus Acidophilus Ncfm, Eric Altermann, W. Michael Russell, M. Andrea Azcarate- Peril, Rodolphe Barrangou, B. Logan Buck, Olivia Mcauliffe, Nicole Souther, Alleson Dobson, Tri Duong, Michael Callanan, Sonja Lick, Alice Hamrick, Raul J. Cano, Todd R. Klaenhammer

Biological Sciences

Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM is a probiotic bacterium that has been produced commercially since 1972. The complete genome is 1,993,564 nt and devoid of plasmids. The average GC content is 34.71% with 1,864 predicted ORFs, of which 72.5% were functionally classified. Nine phage-related integrases were predicted, but no complete prophages were found. However, three unique regions designated as potential autonomous units (PAUs) were identified. These units resemble a unique structure and bear characteristics of both plasmids and phages. Analysis of the three PAUs revealed the presence of two R/M systems and a prophage maintenance system killer protein. A spacers interspersed direct …

Vegetation Response Of A Wyoming Big Sagebrush (Artemisia Tridentata Ssp. Wyomingensis) Community To 6 Mechanical Treatments In Rich County, Utah, Daniel David Summers

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the importance of sagebrush to shrub-steppe ecosystems and associated plant and animal species has been recognized. The historical removal of herbaceous species by excessive and uncontrolled livestock grazing on many of our sagebrush ecosystems has resulted in a stagnant state where dense, competitive stands of sagebrush prevent herbaceous species from recovering. Most early research on sagebrush control was directed toward eradication to increase herbaceous forage for livestock production, rather than sagebrush thinning to improve shrub vigor and understory production for wildlife habitat and community diversity. Mechanical treatments have the ability to retain shrub and herbaceous components, while …

The Relationship Between Pelagic Larval Duration And Range Size In Tropical Reef Fishes: A Synthetic Analysis, Sarah E. Lester, Benjamin I. Ruttenberg

Biological Sciences

We address the conflict in earlier results regarding the relationship between dispersal potential and range size. We examine all published pelagic larval duration data for tropical reef fishes. Larval duration is a convenient surrogate for dispersal potential in marine species that are sedentary as adults and that therefore only experience significant dispersal during their larval phase. Such extensive quantitative dispersal data are only available for fishes and thus we use a unique dataset to examine the relationship between dispersal potential and range size. We find that dispersal potential and range size are positively correlated only in the largest ocean basin, …

Phylogenetic History, Morphological Parallelism, And Speciation In A Complex Of Appalachian Salamanders (Genus: Desmognathus), Nathan D. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the mechanisms that generate shared morphologies across closely related taxa is important when identifying distinct evolutionary lineages using morphological characters. Desmognathus salamanders are an ideal group for testing hypotheses concerning the correlation between morphological similarity and genetic exchange within and among nominal species due to a pattern of high discordance between the two. Phylogeographic hypotheses are tested for populations of the D. quadramaculatus species complex throughout southern Appalachia by combining phylogenetic and population genetic methods with geographical information. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic inferences are then assessed in conjunction with morphological characteristics that have traditionally diagnosed taxonomic entities to understand the …

Investigations Of Migratory Bull Trout (Salvelinus Confluentus) In Relation To Fish Passage At Albeni Falls Dam, Allan T. Scholz, Holly J. Mclellan, David R. Geist, Richard S. Brown, United States Department Of The Army Corps Of Engineers, Seattle District, Eastern Washington University

Biology Faculty Publications

Final report prepared for the United States Department of the Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District. Contract No. DACW68-02-D-001

Extrapair Fertilization And Genetic Similarity Of Social Mates In The Mexican Jay, John Eimes, Patricia Parker, Jerram Brown, Esther Brown

Biology Department Faculty Works

Inbreeding depression should favor the ability of females to avoid inbreeding or minimize its effects. We tested for a relationship between genetic similarity of social pairs and the occurrence of extrapair fertilization (EPF) in the Mexican jay (Aphelocoma ultramarina). Multilocus minisatellite and microsatellite DNA fingerprinting was used to detect extrapair young and measure genetic similarity between social parents. We found that 12 of 31 (39%) nests had at least one EPF and 15 of 93 (16%) young were the result of EPF. The mean DNA fingerprinting band sharing score between social mates who had at least one EPF was significantly …

Fitness Correlates Of Song Repertoire Size In Free-Living Song Sparrows (Melospiza Melodia), J. M. Reid, P. Arcese, A. L. E. V. Cassidy, Sara Hiebert Burch, J. N.M. Smith, P. K. Stoddard, A. B. Marr, L. F. Keller

Biology Faculty Works

Models of sexual selection propose that exaggerated secondary sexual ornaments indicate a male's own fitness and the fitness of his offspring. These hypotheses have rarely been thoroughly tested in free-living individuals because overall fitness, as opposed to fitness components, is difficult to measure. We used 20 years of data from song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia) inhabiting Mandarte Island, British Columbia, Canada, to test whether a male's song repertoire size, a secondary sexual trait, predicted overall measures of male or offspring fitness. Males with larger song repertoires contributed more independent and recruited offspring, and independent and recruited grandoffspring, to Mandarte's population. …

Writing The Future: Progress And Evolution, Michael Dietrich

Dartmouth Scholarship

Review of Writing the Future: Progress and Evolution edited by David Rothenberg and Wandee J Pryor, 2004.

Law And Behavioral Biology, Owen D. Jones, Timothy H. Goldsmith

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Society uses law to encourage people to behave differently than they would behave in the absence of law. This fundamental purpose makes law highly dependent on sound understandings of the multiple causes of human behavior. The better those understandings, the better law can achieve social goals with legal tools. In this Article, Professors Jones and Goldsmith argue that many long held understandings about where behavior comes from are rapidly obsolescing as a consequence of developments in the various fields constituting behavioral biology. By helping to refine law's understandings of behavior's causes, they argue, behavioral biology can help to improve law's …

Structural Basis For The Inhibition Of Mammalian Membrane Adenylyl Cyclase By 2 '(3')-O-(N-Methylanthraniloyl)-Guanosine 5 '-Triphosphate, Tung-Chung Mou, Andreas Gille, David A. Fancy, Roland Seifert, Stephen R. Sprang

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Membrane-bound mammalian adenylyl cyclase (mAC) catalyzes the synthesis of intracellular cyclic AMP from ATP and is activated by stimulatory G protein alpha subunits (Galpha(s)) and by forskolin (FSK). mACs are inhibited with high potency by 2 '(3')-O-(N-methylanthraniloyl) (MANT)-substituted nucleotides. In this study, the crystal structures of the complex between Galpha(s).GTPgammaS and the catalytic C1 and C2 domains from type V and type II mAC (VC1.IIC2), bound to FSK and either MANT-GTP.Mg(2+) or MANT-GTP.Mn(2+) have been determined. MANT-GTP coordinates two metal ions and occupies the same position in the catalytic site as P-site inhibitors and substrate analogs. However, the orientation of …

Origin Of Asymmetry In Adenylyl Cyclases: Structures Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Rv1900c, Sangita C. Sinha, Martina Wetterer, Stephen R. Sprang, Joachim E. Schultz, Jürgen U. Linder

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Rv1900c, a Mycobacterium tuberculosis adenylyl cyclase, is composed of an N-terminal alpha/beta-hydrolase domain and a C-terminal cyclase homology domain. It has an unusual 7% guanylyl cyclase side-activity. A canonical substrate-defining lysine and a catalytic asparagine indispensable for mammalian adenylyl cyclase activity correspond to N342 and H402 in Rv1900c. Mutagenic analysis indicates that these residues are dispensable for activity of Rv1900c. Structures of the cyclase homology domain, solved to 2.4 A both with and without an ATP analog, form isologous, but asymmetric homodimers. The noncanonical N342 and H402 do not interact with the substrate. Subunits of the unliganded open dimer move …