Biology Commons^™

Forward Osmosis Bag: Ground Testing The Prospect Of Using Alternative Water Sources For Drinking Water, Michaela Marie Brant, Ariella Yendler, Mona Hammoudeh, Michael T. Flynn

STAR Program Research Presentations

On the STS-135 Space Shuttle mission, to be launched July 8, 2011, a forward osmosis bag (FOB) study will be conducted. At NASA Ames this summer, the ground truth testing is being conducted for results comparisons. The FOB technology is derived from a commercial product, the X-Pack water filter. Forward osmosis operates by utilizing an established concentration gradient across a semi-permeable membrane to move water molecules from one side of the membrane to the other. This concept is exploited to harvest drinking water from grey water sources such as urine, sea water, or vehicle water. In this experiment, potassium chloride …

Evaporative Enrichment Of Oxygen-18 And Deuterium In Lake Waters On The Tibetan Plateau, Fasong Yuan, Yongwei Sheng, Tandong Yao, Chaojun Fan, Junli Li, Hui Zhao, Yanbin Lei

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

Stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δD) are useful tracers for investigating hydrologic and climatic variability on a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Since the early isotopic studies on mountainous glaciers in the late 1960s, a great deal of information has been generated on the isotopic composition of rainfall, snow, ice, surface waters, and lake carbonate sediments across the Tibetan Plateau. However, measurements of δ¹⁸O and δD values of lake water are scarce. Here we present a new dataset of δ¹⁸O and δD values of lake waters collected from 27 lakes across the plateau during …

Sequence Detection And Comparative Analysis Of The Hv1 And Hv2 Control Regions Of Human Mitochondrial Dna By Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Sarah E. Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research was the evaluation and forensic validation of Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (DHPLC) as a sequencingindependent means of detecting the presence of sequence differences in pair-wise mixtures of non-concordant amplicons of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The reproducibility and efficacy of DHPLC results, including amplification reproducibility, injection reproducibility, and column-to-column reproducibility were measured, showing negligible assay-to-assay variability. In addition, cross-contamination on the DHPLC columns demonstrated very low level DNA carryover between a high-abundance sample and subsequent zero-volume injections.

The accuracy with which DHPLC technology can be used to screen both evidence and control samples in the context …

Addressing Biased Occurrence Data In Predicting Potential Sierra Nevada Red Fox Habitat For Survey Prioritization, Casey Cleve, John D. Perrine, Barbara Holzman, Ellen Hines

Biological Sciences

The Sierra Nevada red fox Vulpes vulpes necator is listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act. It originally occurred throughout California’s Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain regions. Its current distribution is unknown but should be determined in order to guide management actions. We used occurrence data from the only known population, in the Lassen Peak region of northern California, combined with climatic and remotely sensed variables, to predict the species’ potential distribution throughout its historic range. These model predictions can guide future surveys to locate additional fox populations. Moreover, they allow us to compare the relative …

Sound Production In Two Loricariid Catfishes, Amanda Lynn Webb

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Many families of catfish produce sounds via pectoral spine stridulation and/or swim bladder compression using sonic muscles attached to the swim bladder. The sound production capabilities and characteristics in Loricariidae, the largest catfish family, have not been well examined. Sounds produced by two loricariid catfish species, Macrotocinclus affinis and Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps were recorded. Both species produce broad band calls via pectoral spine stridulation. These species produce sounds by rubbing the ridges of the dorsal process of the pectoral spine base against the groove of the pectoral girdle. Call duration was generally shorter in M. affinis (2-15 ms) as opposed to …

Action Spectrum For Photoentrainment Of The Circadian Clock In Wild-Type Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Jennifer Forbes=Stovall

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The circadian clock is an endogenous timer that oscillates with a period of approximately 24 hours and is reset upon environmental time cues such as the daily light/ dark or temperature cycles. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is an ideal model organism for research on the circadian clock, because it shows several well-characterized behaviors that exhibit a circadian rhythm. Its circadian rhythm of phototaxis (swimming toward light) has been automated. Former action spectrum studies using the circadian phototaxis rhythm as an indicator surprisingly found that pulses of blue light were not effective in resetting the circadian clock of dark-adapted cells. This may have …

Spite And The Scale Of Competition In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, R. Inglis, Patrick Roberts, Andy Gardner, Angus Buckling

Biology Department Faculty Works

Scale of competition has been shown to be an important factor in shaping the evolution of social interactions. Although many theoretical and experimental studies have examined its effect on altruistic cooperation, relatively little research effort has been focused on spiteful behaviors—actions that harm both the actor and the recipient. In this study, we expand on existing theory by investigating the importance of the global frequency of spiteful alleles, and we determine experimentally how the scale of competition affects selection for spite in the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa under high and intermediate spatial relatedness. Consistent with our theoretical results, we found …

Comparative Ecology Of Sarcobatus Baileyi And Sarcobatus Vermiculatus In Eastern California, Rebecca E. Drenovsky, Alynn M. Martin, Molly R. Falasco, James H. Richards

Biology

Greasewood (Sarcobatus) is a succulent-leaved, halophytic shrub of North American origin. The genus comprises 2 species: Sarcobatus baileyi and Sarcobatus vermiculatus. Sarcobatus vermiculatus is common throughout much of western North America, but S. baileyi is much more limited in distribution and was previously thought to be endemic to Nevada. Here we document and describe a S. baileyi population in eastern California, comparing its morphology and ecology to an adjacent S. vermiculatus population. Morphologically, S. baileyi is smaller in stature but produces larger seeds; however, fewer S. baileyi seeds germinated and survived a 20-day laboratory incubation compared to seeds of S. …

A Reply To King Et Al., Mark E. Swanson, Jerry F. Franklin, Robert L. Beschta, Charles M. Crisafulli, Dominick A. Dellasala, Richard L. Hutto, David B. Lindenmayer, Frederick J. Swanson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hunger Artists: Yeast Adapted To Carbon Limitation Show Trade-Offs Under Carbon Sufficiency, Jared W. Wenger, Jeffrey Piotrowski, Saisubramanian Nagarajan, Kami Chiotti, Gavin Sherlock, Frank Rosenzweig

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

As organisms adaptively evolve to a new environment, selection results in the improvement of certain traits, bringing about an increase in fitness. Trade-offs may result from this process if function in other traits is reduced in alternative environments either by the adaptive mutations themselves or by the accumulation of neutral mutations elsewhere in the genome. Though the cost of adaptation has long been a fundamental premise in evolutionary biology, the existence of and molecular basis for trade-offs in alternative environments are not well-established. Here, we show that yeast evolved under aerobic glucose limitation show surprisingly few trade-offs when cultured in …

The Decline And Conservation Status Of North American Bumble Bees, Jonathan B. Koch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Several reports of North American bumble bee (Bombus Latreille) decline have been documented across the continent, but no study has fully assessed the geographic scope of decline. In this study I discuss the importance of Natural History Collections (NHC) in estimating historic bumble bee distributions and abundances, as well as in informing current surveys. To estimate changes in distribution and relative abundance I compare historic data assembled from a >73,000 specimen database with a contemporary 3-year survey of North American bumble bees across 382 locations in the contiguous U.S.A. Based on my results, four historically abundant bumble bees, B. …

Does Sabp2 Exist As A Dimer?, Mir Ashad Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Salicylic acid binding protein 2 (SABP2) is one of the key enzymes in salicylic acid-dependent plant defense pathway. SABP2 is a 29 kDa protein present in extremely low abundance in plants and it catalyzes the conversion of signaling molecule methyl salicylate into salicylic acid. Although it has been shown that 6x His-tagged SABP2 over expressed in E. coli is a homodimer, its exact conformation in planta is still unknown. Therefore, we proposed to determine if SABP2 exist as a dimer and/or monomer under natural condition. To verify the exact conformation of native SABP2 protein in plant, SABP2 was purified from …

’’The Synergistic Effects Of Modified Green Tea Polyphenols [Gtp], Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate [Egcg], Lipid-Based Tea Polyphenol [Ltp], Curcuminoids, And Red Algae Polysaccharides On Antibiotics Against Potentially Pathogenic Bacteria.”, Bobak Haghjoo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Green tea leaves contain many polyphenolic compounds such as (-)-epicatechin, (-)- epicatechin-3-gallate, (-)-epigallocatechin, and (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate(EGCG). Green tea polyphenols (GTPs) have been implicated to have distinct properties that combat the harmful effects of cell proliferation. These compounds contain certain anti-viral and antimicrobial mechanisms that inhibit growth and perhaps reverse the process in which replication occurs. In this study, varied concentrations of GTP, Lipophilic Tea Polyphenol (LTP), Curcumin, and Red Algae Polysaccharides were used separately and in synergism with the most commonly used antiseptics and antibiotics to study the effect on different species of gram positive and gram negative bacteria. The antiseptic …

A Long-Term Control Project For An Invasive Plant: Assessment Of Phragmites Australis Reduction And Redevelopment Of Native Vegetation In Interdunal Swales Of Sandy Neck Barrier Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Dena Tomassi

Biology Masters Theses Collection

Phragmites australis is a perennial wetland grass that is native to North America. However, salt marshes, estuaries, and other wetlands throughout the northeast USA and Canada have witnessed a dramatic range expansion and population increase of the introduced genetic variant Phragmites australis haplotype M (Saltonstall 2002), with loss of native vegetation through competitive exclusion. Within the dune system of Sandy Neck Barrier Beach, freshwater wetland swales form in low elevation areas, which harbor a diverse wetland plant community dominated by shrubs, and sedges -- and including some rare and endangered species. To conserve and protect these wetland plant associations, annual …

Effects Of Developmental Conditions On Nestling American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius) Corticosterone Concentrations, Erin H. Strasser, Julie A. Heath

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

How nestling birds respond to stressful situations may constitute an important survival component that has lasting developmental effects on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. As birds are exposed to increasing amounts of potential anthropogenic stressors through land use change, understanding how these factors contribute to HPA development is important. We examined whether conditions experienced during the nestling stage affected free-living American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) HPA activity prior to fledging. Kestrels experienced varying levels of human disturbance around their nest and we classified this environmental exposure as high or low environmental human disturbance based on traffic patterns and …

The Health Status, Concerns, And Reform In Uruguay With An Emphasis On Health Promotion Programs Geared Towards The Care And Development Of The Country's Children And Adolescents, Melissa Raquel Ramírez

Honors Scholar Theses

This study was conducted in Montevideo, Uruguay, where I examined the actions that the country and society as a whole, its various communities, the Uruguayan government, and the people take in order to prevent disease and promote a healthy society. An ethnographic experiential and evidence-based approach, including personal experience, interviews, and official government documents, was used to fully describe the way the system operates. Due to Uruguay's demographic characteristics, particular attention was paid to children and adolescents. For this thesis, Uruguay is described in terms of its history, physical and mental health issues, society's shared health concerns, and its vulnerable …

Avian Influenza In Migratory Birds In The United States, 2007–2009, And Effects Of September Hunting Seasons On Survival, Harvest, And Recovery Rates Of Canada Geese Banded In Southeast Nebraska, Scott R. Groepper

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Highly-pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV H5N1) poses risks to wild birds, poultry, and humans. Personnel with the United States Department of Agriculture-Animal Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services, state, and tribal wildlife agencies collected 168,940 samples from migratory birds from 2007 to 2009 to test for presence of HPAIV H5N1. No HPAIV was found, but other subtypes were discovered, including H5 and H7. I estimated prevalence of avian influenza virus by flyway and found prevalence was lowest each year in the Atlantic Flyway (6.7%–8.3%), highest in the Pacific Flyway in 2007 (13.3%) and 2008 (13.4%), and highest in the Mississippi Flyway …

Disseminated Neoplasia And Clam Populations In A Canadian National Park-Kouchibouguac National Park., S. Anne Boettger, M J. Abgrall, N Taraska, L Leblanc, E Tremblay

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Disseminated Neoplasia In Mya Arenaria Linked To Chronic Heavy Metal Pollution., S. Anne Boettger, N G. Taraska, J Joseph, C W. Walker

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

New Insights On Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Calcium Regulation In Muscle Fatigue, Robert H. Fitts

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

A consistent observation with fatigue in skeletal muscle is a decline in the amplitude of the myoplasmic Ca²⁺ transient, which is thought to result primarily from a reduced Ca²⁺ flux through the ryanodine receptor (RyR1) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) (Fig. 1). This in turn is thought to contribute to the loss in muscle force and power (2). In the past 20 years, the important proteins at the t-tubule SR junction have been identified (Fig. 1), and considerable progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanism by which t-tubular charge induces SR Ca²⁺ release. However, the …

Soil Microbes Regulate Ecosystem Productivity And Maintain Species Diversity, Stefan A. Schnitzer, John Klironomos

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

One of the major goals in ecology is to determine the mechanisms that drive the asymptotic increase in ecosystem productivity with plant species diversity. Niche complementarity, the current paradigm for the asymptotic diversity-productivity pattern, posits that the addition of species to a community increases productivity because each species specializes on different resources and thus can more thoroughly utilize the available resources. At higher diversity the increase in productivity decreases because resources become limiting, resulting in the classic asymptotic diversity-productivity pattern. An alternative but less tested explanation is that density-dependent disease from species-specific soil microbes drive the diversity-productivity relationship by increasing …

Ornamentation, Behavior, And Maternal Effects In The Female Northern Cardinal, Caitlin Winters

Master's Theses

This study seeks to understand the relationship between ornamentation, maternal effects, and behavior in the female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). Female birds possess ornaments that indicate a number of important known aspects of quality and are usually costly to maintain. However, the extent to which female specific traits, such as maternal effects, are indicated is less clear. It is predicted by the Good Parent Hypothesis that this information should be displayed through intraspecific signal communication. Specifically, androgens and carotenoids are of interest in this study because both are linked to ornamentation, and are also important egg components that …

Feeding Selectivity And Habitat Usage Of Esox Americanus, Scott Richard Clark

Master's Theses

Patterns of piscine prey selection and habitat usage of Esox americanus were assessed through a series of field and experimental studies. Although few detailed studies exist on the foraging behavior and habitat usage of E. americanus, throughout its range it may be an important trophic component in maintaining fish assemblage structure in many lower order streams. Across 17 sampled streams, the presence of E. americanus among reaches within streams was found to be strongly correlated with increasing levels of habitat complexity. Reaches occupied by E. americanus featured increased amounts of in-stream physical structure, increased variability in stream width and …

Diet And Feeding-Related Morphometrics Of The Blackstripe Topminnow, Fundulus Notatus, In Allotropic And Syntopic Populations With The Blackspotted Topminnow, Fundulus Olivaceus, Charles Michael Champagne

Master's Theses

The Fundulus notatus species complex consists of three described species: F. notatus, F. olivaceus and F. euryzonus. Both F. notatus and F. olivaceus have broad overlapping ranges with many populations being found within and outside of contact zones. Contact zones are generally found in midreaches with F. olivaceus dominating headwaters and F. notatus in larger rivers downstream. Both species share similar ecological niches so the mechanism allowing for stable coexistence in contact zones is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine variability in diet and feeding morphology of F. notatus in syntopic and allotopic populations across …

The Cellular Model Of Eastern Oyster (Grassostrea Virginica) Shell Formation, Andrew S. Mount, Neeraj V. Gohad, Karolyn Hansen, Mary Beth Johnstone, Douglas C. Hansen

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Significance Of Increased Tissue Transglutaminase In Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer, Amy L. Han

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The progression of hormone responsive to hormone refractory prostate cancer poses a major clinical challenge in the successful treatment of prostate cancer. The hormone refractory prostate cancer cells exhibit resistance not only to castrate levels of testosterone, but also to other therapeutic modalities and hence become lethal. Currently, there is no effective treatment available for managing this cancer. These observations underscore the urgency to investigate mechanism(s) that contribute to the progression of hormone-responsive to hormone-refractory prostate cancer and to target them for improved clinical outcomes.

Tissue transglutaminase (TG2) is a multifunctional pro-inflammatory protein involved in diverse physiological processes such as …

Mechanism Of Transcriptional Suppression Of A Phytochrome A Epiallele In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Gulab D. Rangani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cytosine methylation in DNA is an integral part of epigenetically controlled regulatory networks in eukaryotes. Both plants and vertebrates display DNA methylation in the gene coding region; however, its role in gene expression is not well understood. Gene promoter, on the other hand, remains largely unmethylated. Acquisition of methylation in promoter results in transcriptional suppression of the gene. The goal of this research is to study the effect of coding region methylation in gene expression using a unique gene model, phyA'. phyA' is a transcriptionally suppressed epiallele of the Arabidopsis thaliana Phytochrome A gene, which contains methylation in CG sites …

The Relations Among Laterality, Cortisol, And Approach-Avoidance Behavior In Garnett's Bushbaby (Otolemur Garnettii), David Burton Hanbury

Dissertations

Many studies to date have demonstrated that approach and avoidance behaviors are processed asymmetrically in the brain and may be reflected in measures such as handedness. The purpose of this study was to extend work in primates on this topic to Garnett’s bushbaby, a prosimian species. Furthermore, to determine whether measures in addition to handedness relate to approach-avoidance behavior, lateralized differences in tympanic membrane temperature were assessed. Cortisol measures were also obtained to determine whether it was related approach-avoidance behavior and handedness. Eleven captive-born Garnett’s bushbabies (Otolemur garnettii) were evaluated for handedness and responsiveness to novelty. Moreover, the …

Role Of Prostaglandin E2 In The Regulation Of Pancreatic Stellate Cells Hyper Activity Associated With Pancreatic Cancer, Chantale Charo

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal type of cancer due to its high metastasis rate and resistance to chemotherapy. Pancreatic fibrosis is a constant pathological feature of chronic pancreatitis and the hyperactive stroma associated with pancreatic cancer. Strong evidence supports an important role of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and COX-2 generated prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) during pancreatic fibrosis. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) are the predominant source of extracellular matrix production (ECM), thus being the key players in both diseases. Given this background, the primary objective is to delineate the role of PGE2 on human pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) hyper activation associated …

Downregulation Of Pax2 Suppresses Ovarian Cancer Cell Growth, Huijuan Song

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

PAX2 is one of nine PAX genes regulating tissue development and cellular differentiation in embryos. PAX2 promotes cell proliferation, oncogenic transformation, cell-lineage specification, migration, and survival. Unattenuated PAX2 has been found in several cancer types. We therefore sought to elucidate the role of PAX2 in ovarian carcinomas. We found that PAX2 was expressed in low-grade serous, clear cell, endometrioid and mucinous cell ovarian carcinomas, which are relatively chemoresistant compared to high grade serous ovarian carcinomas. Four ovarian cancer cell lines, RMUGL (mucinous), TOV21G (clear cell), MDAH-2774 (endometrioid) and IGROV1 (endometrioid), which express high-levels of PAX2, were used to study the …