Biology Commons^™

Optimal (Plastic) Life Histories In Growing Versus Stable Populations, Eric Charnov

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Hydrologic Control Of Nitrogenremoval, Storage And Export In A Mountain Stream, R. O. Hall Jr., Michelle A. Baker, C. D. Arp, B. J. Koch

Biology Faculty Publications

Nutrient cycling and export in streams and rivers should vary with flow regime, yet most studies of stream nutrient transformation do not include hydrologic variability. We used a stable isotope tracer of nitrogen (¹⁵N) to measure nitrate (NO₃^-) uptake, storage, and export in a mountain stream, Spring Creek, Idaho, U.S.A. We conducted two tracer tests of 2-week duration during snowmelt and baseflow. Dissolved and particulate forms of ¹⁵N were monitored over three seasons to test the hypothesis that stream N cycling would be dominated by export during floods, and storage during low flow. Floods …

Changes In A Tropical Forest Support Metabolic Zero-Sum Dynamics, S.K. Morgan Ernest, Ethan P. White, J. H. Brown

Biology Faculty Publications

Major shifts in many ecosystem-level properties of tropical forests have been observed, but the processes driving these changes are poorly understood. Over the past two decades, the forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama (BCI) exhibited a 20% decrease in the number of trees and a 10% increase in average tree diameter. Here we show that these changes are consistent with a zero-sum constraint operating in this forest. Zero-sum constraints result when the total resource use of an ecosystem is limited by available resources. This causes increases in resource use by some groups of organisms to be compensated for by decreases …

Taking Species Abundance Distributions Beyond Individuals, H. Morlon, Ethan P. White, R. S. Etienne, J. L. Green, A. Ostling, D. Alonso, B. J. Enquist, F. He, A. H. Hurlbert, A. E. Magurran, B. A. Maurer, B. J. Mcgill, H. Olff, D. Storch, T. Zillio

Biology Faculty Publications

The species abundance distribution is one of the few “universal” patterns in ecology. Research on this fundamental distribution has been focused to the study of numerical counts, irrespective of the traits of individuals. Here we show that considering a set of Generalized Species Abundance Distributions (GSADs) that encompass several abundance measures, specifically numerical abundance, biomass and resource use can provide novel insights into organizational forces at play in ecological communities. We first leverage a comprehensive dataset to investigate the similarity and difference between GSADs. We then use classical probability theory and allometric scaling laws to explore theoretical linkages among GSADs …

Long-Term Monitoring And Experimentalmanipulation Of A Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem Near Portal, Arizona, Usa, S.K. Morgan Ernest, T. J. Valone, J. H. Brown

Biology Faculty Publications

Desert ecosystems have long served as model systems in the study of ecological concepts (e.g., competition, resource pulses, top-down/bottom-up dynamics). However, the inherent variability of resource availability in deserts, and hence consumer dynamics, can also make them challenging ecosystems to understand. Study of a Chihuahuan desert ecosystem near Portal, Arizona, USA, began in 1977. At this site, 24 experimental plots were established in 1977 and divided among controls and experimental manipulations. Experimental manipulations over the years include removal of all or some rodent species, all or some ants, seed additions, and various alterations of the annual plant community. While some …

Selective Herbivory By The Woodrat (Neotoma Lepida) On Joshua Trees (Yucca Brevifolia), M P. Stanford, Nancy J. Huntly

Biology Faculty Publications

We studied herbivory by the desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida) on Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) in the Mojave Desert to determine whether N. lepida fed selectively based on leaf nitrogen content. We measured leaf nitrogen content and the location and amount of herbivory by woodrats on Y. brevifolia trees in southwestern Utah, USA. Neotoma lepida removed the outer tips of leaves (1/3 to 2/3 of total leaf length) but left leaf bases, which had lower nitrogen content, uneaten. Herbivory by N. lepida also was concentrated on rosettes that were oriented south, and these had significantly higher nitrogen content than rosettes that …

Habitat Use By The Southeastern Beach Mouse (Peromyscus Polionotus Niveiventris) At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Kathryn Simmons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Successful recovery of the federally threatened southeastern beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus niveiventris) depends in part on an understanding of their habitat requirements. I studied habitat use by beach mice at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida from March 2005 until March 2006. I livetrapped six grids, three on coastal dunes and three within scrub located inland from the coast. On each grid and trap station, I quantified the extent of bare ground, woody vegetation, non-woody vegetation, height of vegetation, and percentage of coarse sand in the surface soil. I assessed trap success relative to these habitat variables using linear and …

Sequence Evolution Of Recurrently Recruited Retroposed Genes In Drosophila And Their Possible Role In Meiotic Drive, Charles David Tracy

Biology Theses - Archive

Gene duplications are a valuable source of genetic information that can evolve under positive selection creating a new gene function without affecting the original function.A gene duplication mechanism is retroposition. Retroposed copies of genes (retrogenes) are created by reverse transcription of a mRNA into the host organism's genome producing a new sequence that has the same protein coding capacity as the parental gene but lacks introns and regulatory regions. Ran and Dntf-2 are genes involved in nuclear transport that have given rise to retrogenes three times in the Drosophila genus.Recently, genes involved in nuclear transport such as Ran and Dntf-2 …

Hispanic Medicinal Herbal Remedies And Cultural Competency: An Examination Of Pre-Hispanic And Hispanic Medicinal Plants And The Need For Physicians In Los Angeles To Know These Plants As One Basis For Cultural Competency, Garik N. Linnastruth

Whittier Scholars Program

The demographic majority of the people who reside in Los Angeles are hispanic. This population often utilizes alternative medicine, particularly herbal remedies, to ameliorate their health problems. As such, what herbal medicinal plants do physicians in Los Angeles County need to have background knowledge about to be considered culturally competent? Does the knowledge of medicinal plants dictate one basis for cultural competency? The purpose of this study is to examine ten Latino alternative/folk medicinal remedies from three separate civilizations to identify key ways in which physicians can increase their cultural competency. The first two civilizations are Pre-Hispanic and involve the …

Host And Seasonal Effects On The Infection Dynamics Of Skrjabinoptera Phrynosoma (Ortlepp) Schulz, 1927, A Parasitic Nematode Of Horned Lizards, Kathryn Claire Hilsinger

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Author's Abstract: Skrjabinoptera phrynosoma (Ortlepp) Schulz, 1927 is a common parasitic nematode of horned lizards. The life cycle of S. phrynosoma was described by Lee in 1957, but has received little attention since. The present study addressed effect of season as well as host characteristics on the infection dynamics in lizard hosts. In the Alvord Basin in southeastern Oregon, S. phrynosoma were collected from Phrynosoma platyrhinos Gerard 1852 horned lizards via stomach flushes, cloaca flushes and fecal pellet collections. Parasite load variables (number of nematodes per host, length of those nematodes, and total worm burden (ΣL)) were analyzed within three …

Bibliography Of The Frogs Of The Leptodactylus Clade – Adenomera, Hydrolaetare, Leptodactylus, Lithodytes (Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae) Volume 2. Indices, Miriam H. Heyer, W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

The bibliography (Volume 1) is organized alphabetically by last name of the first author. The Species Index, Keyword Index, and Geographic Index are organized by the unique number that EndNote® assigns to each record. To find a reference from the three indices, one must utilize the References by EndNote® Number, listed in numerical order. There is sufficient information associated with the EndNote® numerical order entry to find the specific reference involved in Volume 1 – References.

Complete authors names are used in the EndNote® Number index for the EndNote® records that contain such information. Note that there are some “missing” …

The Tadpole Of Hypsiboas Atlanticus (Anura, Hylidae) From Northeastern Brazil, Filipe A. C. Do Nascimento, Marcelo G. De Lima, Gabriel O. Skuk, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

The tadpole of Hypsiboas atlanticus (Caramaschi & Velosa, 1996) is described from the municipality of Maceió, State of Alagoas, Brazil. At stage 36 the larvae have an overall elliptical body in lateral and dorsal views, oral disc anteroventral, spiracular tube sinistral, and labial tooth row formula 2(1,2)/3(1). The oral disc is surrounded, almost completely (anterior medial gap present) by a single row of marginal papillae. Described tadpoles of the H. punctatus species group can be differentiated by a combined disc oral features. Additional descriptions of H. punctatus (Schneider, 1799) tadpoles from populations throughout South America may be helpful in determining …

The Effect Of Glutamate On Neurite Outgrowth In Fiddler Crab (Uca Pugilator) X-Organ Cells, Ruth B. Langton

Honors Theses

Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. It is of particular interest because of its supposed role in the processes of learning and memory, and also because of its potential toxic effects that have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Although glutamate is necessary for normal cell functioning, high levels of glutamate receptor activation can result in cell death, a phenomenon known as excitotoxicity. It has been suggested that glutamate also plays an important role in the insect and crustacean nervous systems, allowing for the examination of excitotoxicity in these organisms. …

The Effect Of Coalmine Effluent On The Parasite Assemblages Of Lepomis Spp. In The Saline River Basin, Andrew Claxton

Masters Theses

To determine the efficacy of using parasite assemblages as bioindicators of coalmine effluent, a survey of gastro-intestinal helminths from the gut of sunfish, Lepomis spp, was performed. Five species of Lepomis, L. cyanellus, L. nwcrochirus, L. megalotis, L. microlophus, and L. gulosus, were collected from six locations near the Palzo mine, an abandoned coalmine that actively discharges into the lower reach of Sugar Creek. Sunfish were collected from three sites which did not receive effluent from the Palzo mine (Sugar Creek (37° 37'/ 88° 50'), South Fork(37° 41 '/ 88° 52'), and the Little Saline River (37° 38'/ 88° 38')) …

Feathers As Bioindicators Of Pcb Exposure In Clapper Rails, Jay W. Summers

Masters Theses

In this study we used feathers as a biomonitor for exposure to the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Aroclor 1268. Clapper rails have been used as an indicator species of environmental damage for the LCP superfund site located in Brunswick, GA USA. LCP is contaminated with Aroclor 1268, which has been used in limited amounts elsewhere and therefore can be used as a contaminant marker. Aroclor 1268, including congener profiles, were quantified using gas chromatography (GC). Concurrently each sample was quantified for total Aroclor 1268 using an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and compared to the GC results to determine if ELISA was …

Behavioral Response Of Japanese Beetles (Popillia Japonica) To Sex Pheromone: Exploring Factors Of Social Situation And Recent Mating Experience, Carissa A. Schoenick

Masters Theses

Insects in have several methods of advertising for mates; one important and common method is via the use of chemical pheromones. Insects release pheromones into the environment to communicate information about their sex, mating status and receptivity to others. For example, Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) produce a very volatile sex pheromone conspecifics can readily detect. This pheromone is released by virgin females only, and triggers scramble competition among the males that detect and follow the signal for access to these females. Because Japanese beetles are an invasive species and an important pest of ornamental and agricultural plants, there is strong …

Photopigments As Descriptors Of Phytoplankton Assemblages For Biotic Assessment Of Illinois Lakes And Reservoirs: An Hplc Aided Analysis, Robert J. Krenz Iii

Masters Theses

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEP A) identify needs to monitor aquatic resources by quantitative means using biocriteria in conjunction with routine environmental assessment to identify sources of impairment, and determine the effectiveness of management protocols (IEP A 2007; USEPA 2007). Though bioassessment protocols have been implemented within lotic systems and lakes of natural origin, investigation of their application to functionally unique reservoir habitat, which dominates the Midwest, has been limited. This study .evaluated the utility of photopigment profiles, attained using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), for development ofbioassessment protocols for Illinois lakes and reservoirs. …

Reintroduction Of Bison (Bison Bison) On Reservations In South Dakota: Four Case Studies, Trudy M. Ecoffey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explored and documented issues of sustainability associated with the reintroduction of bison in four different bison herds on Reservations in South Dakota. The four herds were managed by: a tribal family cooperative, an individual tribal member, a tribal university and a tribal fish and wildlife agency. The objectives were to identify management practices associated with the sustainability of bison introduction by American Indians; to explore the role of American Indian culture in the management of bison for sustainability; and to investigate rangeland criteria that could be used to measure sustainability of bison reintroduced by American Indians. This project …

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Winter 2009, Scott R. Abella, Lindsay P. Chiquoine, Alice C. Newton

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes

Chronology of forest structure and use in the Spring Mountains, Soil-Tech’s restoration work balancing construction with nature, species performance and treatment effectiveness for revegetation projects, and strategic research areas for Mojave conservation and management

Comparison Of Zeocin And G418 Resistance Markers In Pichia Pastoris, Allison Moy

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris, has been used to successfully produce and express over 700 heterologous proteins. Currently, the only two dominant selectable markers available are the Zeocin and blasticidin resistance genes. This study focused on characterizing and developing the modified G418 selectable marker so it could be used for primary selection of single copy and multicopy strains. To demonstrate its use as a selectable marker the SLPI reporter gene was inserted into the Zeocin resistance vector, pPICZB, and the new G418 resistance vector, pKANa B. The resulting constructs were then transformed into P. pastoris yJC100 cells. Piggyback strains containing …

Beheading First: On Nabokov's Translation Of Lewis Carroll, Victor Fet

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Anya v Strane chudes, young Nabokov’s 1923 Russian translation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, contains an intentionally shifted statement “beheading first, sentence later” compared to Lewis Carroll’s “sentence first, verdict later”. The shift is fitting for the 1920s children émigré audience.

Charting The Late Cretaceous Seas: Mosasaur Richness And Morphological Diversification, Marcus R. Ross

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Abundant, readily identifiable, and biostratigraphically resolved specimens make mosasaurs ideal candidates to test fluxes in generic richness and morphological trends among marine vertebrates during the late Cretaceous. More than 1800 globally distributed mosasaur specimens are allocated to fifteen substage-level stratigraphically correlated assemblages. These data are quantitatively analyzed to illuminate trends within the group. Following their first appearance in the Cenomanian, mosasaurs experienced a significant radiation in the Coniacian and Santonian. Richness levels continued increasing into the Maastrichtian while mosasaurs incrementally exploited new predatory niches recognized via accumulation of novel dental morphologies. Their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous occurred …

Pilates As A New Form Of Exercise To Lower Childhood Obesity And Depression, Alicia Olson

Whittier Scholars Program

Childhood obesity is is quickly becoming a worldwide epidemic. Some factors contributing to this epidemic include more time spent in passive activities such as watching television and playing video games, eating more high fat/ high sugar content foods, and spending very little if any time being physically active. Children need more exercise options that are less intimidating than running or other strenuous exercises. This project introduces Pilates as a new form of exercise to help decrease childhood obesity and childhood depression. Various literature was looked at to determine how childhood obesity occurs and what can be done to prevent it. …

7tmrmine: A Web Server For Hierarchical Mining Of 7tmr Proteins, Guoqing Lu, Zhifang Wang, Alan M. Jones, Etsuko N. Moriyama

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: Seven-transmembrane region-containing receptors (7TMRs) play central roles in eukaryotic signal transduction. Due to their biomedical importance, thorough mining of 7TMRs from diverse genomes has been an active target of bioinformatics and pharmacogenomics research. The need for new and accurate 7TMR/GPCR prediction tools is paramount with the accelerated rate of acquisition of diverse sequence information. Currently available and often used protein classification methods (e.g., profile hidden Markov Models) are highly accurate for identifying their membership information among already known 7TMR subfamilies. However, these alignment-based methods are less effective for identifying remote similarities, e.g., identifying proteins from highly divergent or possibly …

Summer Burrows Of Ord's Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys Ordii) In Western Nebraska: Food Content And Structure, Jeremy A. White

Biology Faculty Publications

Extent of larder hoarding differs among species of kangaroo rats, and limited information is available for food stored in burrows by Ord's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ordii)—the most widespread species of Dipodomys. I excavated 9 burrows recently used by adult D. ordii during summer in the Sandhill Region of Nebraska. I observed only small quantities of food stored in burrows. Eight of 9 burrows contained segments of sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) in limited quantities. These segments consisted of upper leaves with fruits (containing seeds) housed in sheaths. My observations represent the first documentation of D. ordii storing food in burrows under …

Molecular Decay Of The Tooth Gene Enamelin (Enam) Mirrors The Loss Of Enamel In The Fossil Record Of Placental Mammals, Robert Meredith, John Gatesy, William J. Murphy, Oliver A. Ryder, Mark S. Springer

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Vestigial structures occur at both the anatomical and molecular levels, but studies documenting the co-occurrence of morphological degeneration in the fossil record and molecular decay in the genome are rare. Here, we use morphology, the fossil record, and phylogenetics to predict the occurrence of "molecular fossils" of the enamelin (ENAM) gene in four different orders of placental mammals (Tubulidentata, Pholidota, Cetacea, Xenarthra) with toothless and/or enamelless taxa. Our results support the "molecular fossil" hypothesis and demonstrate the occurrence of frameshift mutations and/or stop codons in all toothless and enamelless taxa. We then use a novel method based on selection intensity …

Bioactive Sphingolipids Mediate Apoptosis And Senescence In Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells, Evelyn I. Leon

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Ceramide is a second messenger involved in apoptosis, cell differentiation, and growth arrest. We hypothesize that in tumor cells, insufficient sphingomyelin (SM) limits the amount of ceramide which can be generated for the probagation of the apoptotic signal resulting from treatment with chemotherapy. As a result, we postulated that exogenous SM will facilitate apoptosis and synergize with chemotherapeutic agents.

The current studies examined the response of the Panel human pancreatic cancer cell line to gemcitabine, a nucleoside analog, in the presence and absence of sub-toxic doses of SM. Cytotoxic dose response relationships demonstrated an increased chemosensitivity to gemcitabine with SM …

Direct Binding Of Cytosolic Ndp Kinases To Membrane Lipids Is Regulated By Nucleotides, Kimberly A. P. Mitchell, Gabor Szabo, Angela De S . Otero

Faculty Publications and Presentations

In spite of their complete lack of any structural features that characterize membrane proteins, cytosolic nucleoside-diphosphate kinases (NDPKs) have been found repeatedly to associate with membranes. In some instances the recruitment of cytosolic NDPKs to membranes was attributed to interactions with peripheral or integral membrane proteins, but in many cases the mechanism underlying the association of NDPKs with membranes remained unknown. We show here that cytosolic NDPKs bind directly to membrane lipids in a dynamic process that is controlled by its substrates, nucleoside tri- and diphosphates, and can be fully reconstituted with chemically defined, protein-free phospholipids and recombinant NDPK, or …

Methods For The Isolation Of Sensory And Primary Cilia—An Overview, Kimberly A. P. Mitchell, Gabor Szabo, Angela De S. Otero

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Detailed proteomic analyses of mammalian olfactory and rod photoreceptor sensory cilia are now available, providing an inventory of resident ciliary proteins and laying the foundation for future studies of developmental and spatio-temporal changes in the composition of sensory cilia. Cilia purification methods that were elaborated and perfected over several decades were essential for these advances. In contrast, the proteome of primary cilia is yet to be established, because purification procedures for this organelle have been developed only recently. In this chapter we review current techniques for the purification of olfactory and photoreceptor cilia, and evaluate methods designed for the selective …

Fecal Glucocorticoids Reflect Socio-Ecological And Anthropogenic Stressors In The Lives Of Wild Spotted Hyenas, Heather E. Watts

Biology Faculty Works

Our aim was to identify natural and anthropogenic influences on the stress physiology of large African carnivores, using wild spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) as model animals. With both longitudinal data from a single social group, and cross-sectional data from multiple groups, we used fecal glucocorticoids (fGC) to examine potential stressors among spotted hyenas. Longitudinal data from adult members of a group living on the edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, revealed that fGC concentrations were elevated during two periods of social upheaval among adults, especially among younger females; however, prey availability, rainfall, and presence of lions did not …