Biology Commons^™

Effects Of Predation Risk, Density And Disease On Energy Efficiency In A Larval Anuran, Sarah Crane

Theses and Dissertations

Predation, density and disease affect behavior, morphology and growth. There is a lack of information on how these changes relate to efficiency of energy transfer in anuran larvae, although previous studies suggest that predation should decrease and competition should increase efficiency. Using a 2 x 2 factorial design, we manipulated predation presence and larval density to test how predation risk and density affect energy efficiency. During the experiment, approximately half of the tadpoles were infected by an unknown disease. Neither predation risk nor density affected assimilation or growth efficiency, despite changes in growth and development. Disease, however, decreased gut length …

Assessment Of A Non-Invasive High-Throughput Classifier For Behaviours Associated With Sleep And Wake In Mice, Kevin D. Donohue, Dharshan C. Medonza, Eli R. Crane, Bruce F. O'Hara

Biology Faculty Publications

This work presents a non-invasive high-throughput system for automatically detecting characteristic behaviours in mice over extended periods of time, useful for phenotyping experiments. The system classifies time intervals on the order of 2 to 4 seconds as corresponding to motions consistent with either active wake or inactivity associated with sleep. A single Polyvinylidine Difluoride (PVDF) sensor on the cage floor generates signals from motion resulting in pressure. This paper develops a linear classifier based on robust features extracted from normalized power spectra and autocorrelation functions, as well as novel features from the collapsed average (autocorrelation of complex spectrum), which characterize …

Genome Size Scaling Through Phenotype Space, Charles A. Knight, Jeremy M. Beaulieu

Biological Sciences

Background and Aims Early observations that genome size was positively correlated with cell size formed the basis of hypothesized consequences of genome size variation at higher phenotypic scales. This scaling was supported by several studies showing a positive relationship between genome size and seed mass, and various metrics of growth and leaf morphology. However, many of these studies were undertaken with limited species sets, and often performed within a single genus. Here we seek to generalize the relationship between genome size and the phenotype by examining eight phenotypic traits using large cross-species comparisons involving diverse assemblages of angiosperm and gymnosperm …

Maternal Effects Of Carotenoid Consumption In Guppies (Poecilia Reticulata), Gregory F. Grether, Gita R. Kolluru, K. Lin, M. A. Quiroz, G. Robertson, A. J. Snyder

Biological Sciences

1. Carotenoids transferred from mother to offspring may enhance the quality of the offspring. Whether such maternal effects occur in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) has an important bearing on mate preference evolution.
2. By raising female guppies from birth on different dietary carotenoid levels, we examined the pattern of carotenoid allocation to maternal tissue (skin) vs. eggs. Skin carotenoid content was only weakly affected by carotenoid intake while egg carotenoid content was strongly affected.
3. We then tested for effects of maternal carotenoid intake on several measures of offspring quality, including size and condition at birth, juvenile growth rate, …

Oligonucleotide Primers For The Detection Of Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates Reveal Novel Luciferase Sequences And Information On The Molecular Evolution Of This Gene, Andrea Baker, Ian Robbins, Mark A. Moline, Maria Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez

Biological Sciences

Bioluminescence is reported in members of 18 dinoflagellate genera. Species of dinoflagellates are known to have different bioluminescent signatures, making it difficult to assess the presence of particular species in the water column using optical tools, particularly when bioluminescent populations are in nonbloom conditions. A "universal" oligonucleotide primer set, along with species and genus-specific primers specific to the luciferase gene were developed for the detection of bioluminescent dinoflagellates. These primers amplified luciferase sequences from bioluminescent dinoflagellate cultures and from environmental samples containing bioluminescent dinoflagellate populations. Novel luciferase sequences were obtained for strains of Alexandrium cf. catenella (Whedon et Kof.) Balech …

Bio-Optics In Integrated Ocean Observing Networks: Potential For Studying Harmful Algal Blooms, Oscar Schofield, J. Bosch, Scott Glenn, Gary Kirkpatrick, John Kerfoot, Steven Lohrenz, Mark A. Moline, Matthew Oliver, Paul Bissett

Biological Sciences

Ships have a difficult time sampling the time and space scales relevant for understanding how the physics and chemistry regulates marine ecosystems (National Research Council 2000, 2003, Figure 3.1); therefore the biology in the oceans is chronically under-sampled. This is a major problem for policy makers and local governments charged with managing coastal resources who are increasingly being asked to develop ‘ecosystem-based management’ plans (US Ocean Commission on Ocean Policy, 2004). Th is is especially true in regions where Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are present (Hallegraeff, 1993). Ecosystem-based management requires a quantitative understanding of the processes controlling marine food webs. …

The Role Of Estrogen Receptor Alpha In Neonatal Oocyte Development, Jemella C. Raymore

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The development of primordial germ cells into oocytes is important for mammalian reproduction. Female germ cells first undergo a number of cell divisions resulting in the formation of cysts. Germ cell cysts are clusters of cells connected by intercellular bridges, formed by incomplete cytokinesis. The cysts breakdown after birth, resulting in individual oocytes that become surrounded by somatic pre-granulosa cells to form primordial follicles. During cyst breakdown two thirds of the original population of oocytes die. However, the processes by which cells within the cyst are designated to survive or die is not yet known. In addition, it is not …

Lack Of Respiratory Effects Of Nicotine Applied To The Caudal Medullary Raphã©, Nicole Bates

Biology Theses - Archive

Breathing is an involuntary and automatic process initiated by a network of neurons within the brainstem. These neurons are affected by a number of factors (mechanical, electrical and chemical) that help modulate the frequency and pattern of breathing. Three respiratory chemosensitive sites have traditionally been described on the ventral medullary surface. These sites are affected by the pH of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) bathing the brain and by chemicals dissolved within the CSF. More recently, additional sites have been described with chemosensitive activity and of these the medullary raphé has received the most attention. Although the dangers of smoking is …

The Shapley Value Of Phylogenetic Trees, Claus-Jochen Haake, Akemi Kashiwada '05, Francis E. Su

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Every weighted tree corresponds naturally to a cooperative game that we call a tree game; it assigns to each subset of leaves the sum of the weights of the minimal subtree spanned by those leaves. In the context of phylogenetic trees, the leaves are species and this assignment captures the diversity present in the coalition of species considered. We consider the Shapley value of tree games and suggest a biological interpretation. We determine the linear transformation M that shows the dependence of the Shapley value on the edge weights of the tree, and we also compute a null space …

Transposon Exaptation In Mammalian Evolution, Donald Hucks

Biology Theses - Archive

A growing body of work suggests that the exaptation of transposon-derived sequences to perform beneficial cellular functions has played a significant role in eukaryotic evolution. In chapter 1, we present an analysis of 10 exapted pogo transposons in the human genome. We present evidence that all 10 are restricted to tetrapods, and that 8 of the 10 arose early in mammalian evolution, in several independent exaptation events involving diverse pogo lineages. We show that all 10 have been subject to stringent selection throughout mammalian evolution, with pseudogenization having occurred only infrequently. In 4 of these genes, we observed no cases …

Production Of Cftr-Null And Cftr-Δf508 Heterozygous Pigs By Adeno-Associated Virus - Mediated Gene Targeting And Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, Christopher S. Rogers, Yanhong Hao, Tatiana Rokhlina, Melissa Samuel, David A. Stoltz, Yuhong Li, Elena Petroff, Daniel W. Vermeer, Amanda C. Kabel, Ziying Yan, Lee Spate, David Wax, Clifton N. Murphy, August Rieke, Kristin Whitworth, Michael L. Linville, Scott W. Korte, John F. Engelhardt, Michael J. Welsh, Randall S. Prather

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Progress toward understanding the pathogenesis of cystic fibrosis (CF) and developing effective therapies has been hampered by lack of a relevant animal model. CF mice fail to develop the lung and pancreatic disease that cause most of the morbidity and mortality in patients with CF. Pigs may be better animals than mice in which to model human genetic diseases because their anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, size, and genetics are more similar to those of humans. However, to date, gene-targeted mammalian models of human genetic disease have not been reported for any species other than mice. Here we describe the first steps …

The Mayfly Newsletter, Peter M. Grant

The Mayfly Newsletter

The Mayfly Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Permanent Committee of the International Conferences on Ephemeroptera.

The Dynamic Nature Of Eukaryotic Genomes, Laura Wegener Parfrey, Daniel J.G. Lahr, Laura A. Katz

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Analyses of diverse eukaryotes reveal that genomes are dynamic, sometimes dramatically so. In numerous lineages across the eukaryotic tree of life, DNA content varies within individuals throughout life cycles and among individuals within species. Discovery of examples of genome dynamism is accelerating as genome sequences are completed from diverse eukaryotes. Though much is known about genomes in animals, fungi, and plants, these lineages represent only 3 of the 60-200 lineages of eukaryotes. Here, we discuss diverse genomic strategies in exemplar eukaryotic lineages, including numerous microbial eukaryotes, to reveal dramatic variation that challenges established views of genome evolution. For example, in …

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Spring 2008, Lesley Defalco, E. Cayenne Engel, Scott R. Abella, Jessica E. Spencer, Jill E. Craig

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes

Post-fire restoration, fire chronosequence study, Joint Fire Science update, Weed Sentry program and DNWR surveys

Volume 01, Jessica Fields, Stephanie Neeley, Derek W. Hambright, Mary E. Lehman, Andrew R. Grzankowski, Zachary Johnson, Boone M. Prentice, Ashley M. Swandby, Victoria Morgan, Katie Williamson, Kristine G. Bender, Katelyn N. Romaine, D. Nicole Swann, Jessica Fox, Mike Mcateer, Alex Grabiec, Laura Nodtvedt, Nick Costa, Rachel Wolfe, Zack Dalton

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction from Dean Dr. Charles Ross

Three Decades of Digging: Undergraduate Archeology at Longwood by Jessica Fields and Stephanie Neeley

Interactions of Allelopathy and Heat Stress in Plants by Derek W. Hambright and Mary E. Lehman

Inertial Electrostatic Confinement D-D Fusion Device: Construction and Simulation by Andrew R. Grzankowski

Shackled Nim by Zachary Johnson

Development of GC-MS and Chemometric Methods for the Analysis of Accelerants in Arson Cases by Boone M. Prentice

A Comparison of Image Analysis Methods in cDNA Microarrays by Ashley M. Swandby

Perceived Sexual Activity of Short and Long-Term Relationships by Victoria Morgan and Katie Williamson

Elderly …

Polyphasic Taxonomy Of A Group Of Globally Dispersed, Desiccation-Resistant Strains Of The Microvirga/Balneimonas Cluster, Bradley Tolar

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Epidermal Growth Factor And Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor On Cryopreserved Human Adipose Derived Stem Cells In Culture: Proliferation, Adipogenesis, And Osteogenesis, Teddi Leigh Hebert

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Responses Of The Sea Catfish, Ariopsis Felis, To Chemical Defenses From The Sea Hare, Aplysia Californica, Sheybani Arman

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Chromosomes And Expression Mechanisms: Bringing Together The Roles Of Dna, Rna And Proteins, Moshe Yaniv, Sarah C.R. Elgin

Biology Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

The Homodimeric Kinesin, Kif17, Is Essential For Vertebrate Photoreceptor Sensory Outer Segment Development, Christine Insinna, Narendra Pathak, Brian Perkins, Iain Drummond, Joseph C. Besharse

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

Sensory cilia and intraflagellar transport (IFT), a pathway essential for ciliogenesis, play important roles in embryonic development and cell differentiation. In vertebrate photoreceptors IFT is required for the early development of ciliated sensory outer segments (OS), an elaborate organelle that sequesters the many proteins comprising the phototransduction machinery. As in other cilia and flagella, heterotrimeric members of the kinesin 2 family have been implicated as the anterograde IFT motor in OS. However, in Caenorhabditis elegans, OSM-3, a homodimeric kinesin 2 motor, plays an essential role in some, but not all sensory cilia. Kif17, a vertebrate OSM-3 homologue, is known for …

Extant Or Extinct? White-Tailed Jack Rabbits And Yellowstone's Food Web, Joel Berger

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Novel Weapons: Invasive Plant Suppresses Fungal Mutualists In America But Not In Its Native Europe, Ragan M. Callaway, Don Cipollini, Kathryn Barto, Giles C. Thelen, Steven G. Hallett, Daniel Prati, Kristina Stinson, John Klironomos

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Why some invasive plant species transmogrify from weak competitors at home to strong competitors abroad remains one of the most elusive questions in ecology. Some evidence suggests that disproportionately high densities of some invaders are due to the release of biochemicals that are novel, and therefore harmful, to naïve organisms in their new range. So far, such evidence has been restricted to the direct phytotoxic effects of plants on other plants. Here we found that one of North America's most aggressive invaders of undisturbed forest understories, Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) and a plant that inhibits mycorrhizal fungal mutualists of North …

Exploring The Role Of Iscsua And Suf Operon In Shigella Flexneri Invasion And Resistance To Oxidative Stress, Benjamin R. Lloyd

Honors Theses

Shigella flexneri is a facultative intracellular pathogen capable of causing dysentery, a condition that afflicts many around the world, especially in developing countries. There are several aspects of Shigella pathogenesis that are not well understood, including a number of genetic and cellular changes that allow Shigella to adapt to stresses encountered while invading and replicating within the eukaryotic cytosol. It was the goal of this research to examine the roles of iscSUA and suf, gene systems predicted to encode for iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis proteins, in Shigella surviving exposure to oxidative stress agents and during Shigella invasion and plaque formation …

Characterization Of Sox Family Members In Sponge Stem Cells And During Development, Karen E. Leeds

Honors Theses

Sponges are considered the oldest and most basal part of the metazoan lineage and therefore possess a unique set of gene families that are highly conserved among all animals. One of these gene families is known as Sox transcription factors. Sox genes are known to play important roles in complex animals such as the specification of the primary layers of the body, determination of sex, and most recently induction of induced pluirpotent stem cells (iPS cells) from both human and mouse fibroblasts with the help of three other transcription factors. We have found that two different demosponge species Halichondria bowerbanki …

A New Reproductive Mode In The Genus Melanzophryniscus Gallardo, 1961 (Anura: Bufonidae) With Description Of A New Species From The State Of Paraná, Brazil, José A. Langone, Magno V. Segallo, Marcos Bornschein, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

A new species of bufonid toad of the genus Melanophryniscus is described from a mountaintop that is part of the Serra do Mar in the northeastern State of Paraná, Brazil. Melanophryniscus alipioi sp. nov. is distinguished from other known species by its uniformly dark brown dorsal color and a unique breeding site. The new species reproduces in bromeliads, a reproductive mode previously unknown for this genus. This species might be susceptible to current habitat lost.

Molecular Evolution, Michael Dietrich

Dartmouth Scholarship

Comprised of essays by top scholars in the field, this volume offers detailed overviews of philosophical issues raised by biology.

An Investigation Of The Diets Of Infants Born In Ireland During The First Six Months Of Life, Roslyn Tarrant

Doctoral

Appropriate infant feeding practices play a crucial part in achieving optimal health outcomes. It is well established that the protection, promotion and support of exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6-months of life would decrease the health inequalities experienced by mothers and infants (WHO/UNICEF, 2003c). Optimal weaning practices also have significant implications for infant health, notably in relation to normal development, mineral balance and the development of obesity (Department of Health, 1994). Historically, Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe. Furthermore, prior Irish-based research indicates significant deficiencies relating to weaning practices among mothers during the first year of …

The Effect Of Dexmedetomidine On The Mini-Cog Score And High-Mobility Group Box 1 Levels In Elderly Patients With Postoperative Neurocognitive Disorders Undergoing Orthopedic Surgery, Joan M Mastrobattista, Mark A Klebanoff, J Christopher Carey, John C Hauth, Cora A Macpherson, J Ernest, Margaret Cotroneo, Kenneth J Leveno, Ronald Wapner, Michael Varner, Jay D Iams, Atef Moawad, Baha M Sibai, Menachem Miodovnik, Mitchell Dombrowski, Mary J O'Sullivan, J Peter Vandorsten, Oded Langer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Our objective was to determine the effect of body mass index (BMI) on response to bacterial vaginosis (BV) treatment. A secondary analysis was conducted of two multicenter trials of therapy for BV and TRICHOMONAS VAGINALIS. Gravida were screened for BV between 8 and 22 weeks and randomized between 16 and 23 weeks to metronidazole or placebo. Of 1497 gravida with asymptomatic BV and preconceptional BMI, 738 were randomized to metronidazole; BMI was divided into categories: < 25, 25 to 29.9, and > or = 30. Rates of BV persistence at follow-up were compared using the Mantel-Haenszel chi square. Multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate the effect …

Why Are Incubation Periods Longer In The Tropics? A Common-Garden Experiment With House Wrens Reveals It Is All In The Egg, Given Harper, W. Robinson, John Styrsky, Brian Payne, Charles Thompson

Scholarship

Incubation periods of Neotropical birds are often longer than those of related species at temperate latitudes. We conducted a common-garden experiment to test the hypothesis that longer tropical incubation periods result from longer embryo development times rather than from different patterns of parental incubation behavior. House wrens, one of few species whose geographic range includes tropical equatorial and temperate high latitudes, have incubation periods averaging 1.2 days longer at tropical latitudes. We incubated eggs of house wrens in Illinois and Panama under identical conditions in mechanical incubators. Even after factoring out differences in egg size, tropical house wrens still required …

Alignment Of Genetic And Physical Maps Of Gibberella Zeae, Jungkwan Lee, James E. Jurgenson, John F. Leslie, Robert L. Bowden

Faculty Work

We previously published a genetic map of Gibberella zeae (Fusarium graminearum sensu lato) based on a cross between Kansas strain Z-3639 (lineage 7) and Japanese strain R-5470 (lineage 6). In this study, that genetic map was aligned with the third assembly of the genomic sequence of ₊₊ strain PH-1 (lineage 7) using seven structural genes and 108 sequenced amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. Several linkage groups were combined based on the alignments, the nine original linkage groups were reduced to six groups, and the total size of the genetic map was reduced from 1,286 to 1,140 centimorgans. Nine …