Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biology Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2018

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 2251 - 2280 of 3206

Full-Text Articles in Biology

The Effects Of Intrahippocampal Estradiol Administration On Spatial Memory And Protein Expression In Rats Fed A High Fat Diet, Lauren M. Maitner May 2018

The Effects Of Intrahippocampal Estradiol Administration On Spatial Memory And Protein Expression In Rats Fed A High Fat Diet, Lauren M. Maitner

Biological Sciences

Estradiol acts throughout the body; one key target that expresses large numbers of estradiol receptors is the brain, and specifically the hippocampus. Estradiol can exhibit neuroprotective effects in the brain. However, the set of pathways through which this occurs is not well understood. In vitro work has shown that administration of estradiol to hippocampal neurons inactivates caspase 3, a protease involved in apoptosis and the cleavage of tau. Cleavage of tau results in the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. Together with formation of amyloid-beta plaques, this is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. We tested the hypothesis that administration of …

Go to article

Breaking Out From Tradition: Redesign Of Large Physiology Lecture Increases Engagement, Inclusion, And Student Outcomes, Jordyn Dickey, John Redden, Kristen Kimball May 2018

Breaking Out From Tradition: Redesign Of Large Physiology Lecture Increases Engagement, Inclusion, And Student Outcomes, Jordyn Dickey, John Redden, Kristen Kimball

Honors Scholar Theses

The human digestive system is a diverse network of cells, tissues, and organs that is regulated by intrinsic (e.g. nervous and endocrine systems) and extrinsic factors (e.g. secretions, pH, and the microbiome). Given the volume of content and the dense physiology involved, this system is difficult for instructors to teach and equally challenging for students to understand. This is especially true in our two-semester Human Anatomy and Physiology course for pre-health students at the University of Connecticut. In the Spring 2017 semester, we developed and implemented an active learning based approach when teaching the histology and regulation of gastric secretions …

Go to article

Sequencing And Analysis Of Centromere Protein B In Wallaby And The Rapid Evolution Of The Centromere, Alexander Tedeschi May 2018

Sequencing And Analysis Of Centromere Protein B In Wallaby And The Rapid Evolution Of The Centromere, Alexander Tedeschi

Honors Scholar Theses

Using a combination of Sanger sequencing and RNA-seq data, this project aims to determine the nucleotide and amino acid sequence of Centromere Protein B (CENP-B), an important protein involved in the assembly of the kinetochore protein complex at the centromere, in several species of marsupials, specifically wallabies. Despite their recent evolutionary history, these species have been shown to have surprisingly divergent centromeric DNA sequences. Through comparative analysis of these sequences, this project, along with analysis of several other CENPs, aims to determine if this divergence extends to the proteins closely associated with these sequences and possibly even further into the …

Go to article

Metabolic Dysregulation: An Investigation Of The Role Of Foxo3 In Gluconeogensis In Pten-Null Glioblastomas, Victor Fanniel May 2018

Metabolic Dysregulation: An Investigation Of The Role Of Foxo3 In Gluconeogensis In Pten-Null Glioblastomas, Victor Fanniel

Theses and Dissertations

Many processes are regulated by the Phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) pathway in the cell including cell survival, metabolism, and apoptosis. Increased activation of the PI3K pathway is a hallmark of many cancers which can be oftentimes attributed to the mutation of PTEN, which encodes an enzyme that performs the reverse reaction of PI3K. When PTEN is null-mutated, this creates a constitutively active PI3K pathway and constitutively active AKT. Since AKT phosphorylates conserved residues on FOXO transcription factors to mark them for nuclear export, this renders FOXO inactive. However, new research has provided evidence that FOXO is still present in …

Go to article

Regional Distribution, Non-Invasive Detection, And Genetic Diversity Of The Black-Spotted Newt (Notophthalmus Meridionalis), Evan A. Bare May 2018

Regional Distribution, Non-Invasive Detection, And Genetic Diversity Of The Black-Spotted Newt (Notophthalmus Meridionalis), Evan A. Bare

Theses and Dissertations

The Black-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus meridionalis ) is one of three a salamander species native to Gulf Coast prairies of Texas and Mexico, with respective state and federal protections. This species has been neglected by the scientific community despite concerns of dramatic population declines and a globally endangered status, with the most recent work being conducted in the early 1990’s going unpublished. This study presents the most recent examination of the species providing probabilistic distribution maps, descriptions of three novel populations, assessments of surveying techniques, and the first known examination of intrapopulation genetics including the first documented genetic examination of …

Go to article

Progress And Potential Of Two Biological Control Agents Of The Invasive Giant Reed (Arundo Donax L.), Madeline Marshall May 2018

Progress And Potential Of Two Biological Control Agents Of The Invasive Giant Reed (Arundo Donax L.), Madeline Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

Biological control, or the use of natural enemies for pest management, may the best long-term option for managing the invasive Arundo donax , a noxious weed dominating riparian habitats globally and along the Rio Grande River. This work reports on the progress and potential of two arundo biological control agents permitted for release in Texas and Mexico. The arundo wasp, Tetramesa romana, released in 2009, is having significant impacts as reported from various field locations around the world, described here using standard exit hole counts. The highest density levels were found in Texas (introduced range) compared to relatively low …

Go to article

Correlation Of Environmental Exposure To Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons And Polymorphisms In The Proto-Oncogene V-Rel Using Wild Atlantic Menhaden, Chelsea Rose Defelice May 2018

Correlation Of Environmental Exposure To Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons And Polymorphisms In The Proto-Oncogene V-Rel Using Wild Atlantic Menhaden, Chelsea Rose Defelice

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Hurricane Sandy critically damaged the Atlantic coast of New Jersey in the fall of 2012. This was recorded as the largest storm to hit the Atlantic Ocean, which was manifested by its destruction on the homes and communities of those along the coastline. Contamination of surrounding waters due to this natural disaster was of great interest. The re-suspension of land-based pollution is proposed to make these contaminants more bioavailable to coastal species, such as Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), which are a crucial biomonitoring species through their ecological and economic uses. A proposed increase of body burdens in Atlantic …

Go to article

Novel Use Of A Cell-Penetrating Peptide-Adaptor System To Characterize Akirin Constructs And Investigate Activity Of Bacterial Effector Proteins, Shaquanna Young May 2018

Novel Use Of A Cell-Penetrating Peptide-Adaptor System To Characterize Akirin Constructs And Investigate Activity Of Bacterial Effector Proteins, Shaquanna Young

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

In the late 1980s, HIV protein TAT was found to confer the passage of HIV through the plasma membrane of mammalian cells. The McMurry lab developed a CPP-adaptor system which consists of the fusion of TAT to calmodulin to which mediates the delivery of exogenous proteins into cells and prevents endosomal entrapment. Calmodulin (CaM) is capable of binding to the calmodulin binding site (CBS) of cargo only in the presence of calcium. TAT-CaM can be used to characterize Akirin constructs and investigate the activity of bacterial effectors, AopP and AvrA, in the NF-kB pathway. Akirin is a small nuclear protein …

Go to article

Calvin Avenue Basin Project Description And Analysis, Calvin University May 2018

Calvin Avenue Basin Project Description And Analysis, Calvin University

Faculty and Professional Research

The existing detention basin, Calvin Avenue Basin was modified in 2017 to include a two-stage ditch, level spreaders, and micro- and macrotopography with the goal of reducing the volume of stormwater leaving the basin, resulting in less stormwater, less flashiness, and improved water quality in the downstream, impaired waterway of Silver Creek. The total storage increase at a reference elevation of 690 is 348,615 gallons (1.07 acre-feet) for all modifications (two-stage ditch and microtopography). This equates to 4.35 million gallons of stormwater that will be stored and slowly released. Of this, 2.46 million gallons of stormwater will be infiltrated annually. …

Go to article

Identification Of Elements Essential For Replication Origin Activity In Escherichia Coli, Prassanna Rao May 2018

Identification Of Elements Essential For Replication Origin Activity In Escherichia Coli, Prassanna Rao

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing number of drug resistant pathogenic bacteria has created a growing health care crisis. Solving the crisis will require a number of solutions, among them being development of new antibiotics that target novel cell processes. Initiation of chromosomal DNA replication is one such unexploited process. Bacterial cells begin chromosome replication by building a nucleoprotein complex called the orisome which, unwinds replication origin DNA, and loads the replicative helicase. A greater understanding of how orisomes assemble, and how the assembly is regulated, should provide a source of druggable targets to be used in future antibiotic discovery efforts. However, although all …

Go to article

Monitoring Wildlife Guards And Crossing Structures On A Divided Highway In South Texas, Tiffany C. Cogan May 2018

Monitoring Wildlife Guards And Crossing Structures On A Divided Highway In South Texas, Tiffany C. Cogan

Theses and Dissertations

To mitigate ocelot (Leopardus pardalis albescens ) road mortality, Texas Department of Transportation installed fencing, wildlife road crossing structures (WRCS, n = 5), and wildlife guards (WG, n = 18) on divided State Highway 100 in Cameron County, Texas. During construction, active infrared (AIR, n = 24) and passive infrared (PIR, n = 24) cameras were side-by-side at WRCS (n = 6) and WG (n = 6). Community composition was significantly different (p = 0.0001) between camera types with AIR cameras detecting a more diverse and abundant community. Wildlife community was significantly different (p = 0.0002) between three WRCS …

Go to article

Characterization Of Genes Involved In Chromatic Acclimation In The Cyanobacterium Synechococcus Sp. A 15-62, Suman Pokhrel May 2018

Characterization Of Genes Involved In Chromatic Acclimation In The Cyanobacterium Synechococcus Sp. A 15-62, Suman Pokhrel

Senior Honors Theses

Synechococcus, a genus of photosynthetic cyanobacteria, is the second most abundant oxygenic microorganism in the marine environment that contributes significantly to the ocean’s primary productivity (Humily et al. 2013; Shukla et al. 2012). They are capable of utilizing available light of different wavelengths in the visible spectrum to perform photosynthesis and fix carbon dioxide and thus inhabit a wide range of light niches in the ocean along horizontal (coast vs offshore) and vertical gradients (depth) (Humily et al. 2013). A gene encoding a putative lyase isomerase, mpeQ, is present in phycoerythrin-II encoding operon that is expressed constitutively and …

Go to article

Search For The Nuclear Localization Signal Of Ime4, Christian Monroy Hernandez May 2018

Search For The Nuclear Localization Signal Of Ime4, Christian Monroy Hernandez

Senior Honors Theses

Ime4 is the catalytic subunit of a conserved methyltransferase (MTase) complex found in yeast, S. cerevisiae. This complex is responsible for creating the RNA modification N6- methyladenosine (m6A), the most common post-transcriptional modification in higher eukaryotes. There is evidence to suggest that m6A is an important mediator of gene expression control within the cell and has been associated with a diverse array of phenotypic effects, notably as a conserved determinant of cell fate. The MTase complex is known to be a nuclear protein, the compartment where it is believed to carry out most of its methylation activity. Recently, the nuclear …

Go to article

Bacteriophages Of The Urinary Microbiome, Taylor Miller-Ensminger, Andrea Garretto, Jonathon Brenner, Krystal Thomas-White, Adriano Zambom, Alan J. Wolfe, Catherine Putonti May 2018

Bacteriophages Of The Urinary Microbiome, Taylor Miller-Ensminger, Andrea Garretto, Jonathon Brenner, Krystal Thomas-White, Adriano Zambom, Alan J. Wolfe, Catherine Putonti

Bioinformatics Faculty Publications

Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) play a significant role in microbial community dynamics. Within the human gastrointestinal tract, for instance, associations amongst bacteriophages (phages), microbiota stability, and human health have been discovered. In contrast to the gastrointestinal tract, the phages associated with the urinary microbiota are largely unknown. Preliminary metagenomic surveys of the urinary virome indicate a rich diversity of novel lytic phage sequences, at an abundance far outnumbering eukaryotic viruses. These surveys, however, exclude the lysogenic phages residing within the bacteria of the bladder. To characterize this phage population, we examined 181 genomes representative of the phylogenetic diversity of bacterial species …

Go to article

Establishing A Method To Detect Fragile X Cgg Repeats Within The Fmr1 Gene Of Embryo Trophectoderm Biopsies, Jenna Bedard May 2018

Establishing A Method To Detect Fragile X Cgg Repeats Within The Fmr1 Gene Of Embryo Trophectoderm Biopsies, Jenna Bedard

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is an X-linked disorder characterized by a CGG trinucleotide repeat located within the 5’ untranslated region of the Fragile X Mental Retardation 1 gene (FMR1). The FMR1 gene is further categorized into classifications of protein function such as normal, intermediate, premutation or full mutation depending on the number of CGG repeats present23. A normal FMR1 gene exhibits anywhere between 5 and 44 repeats. An allele in intermediate range displays 45-54 repeats. A premutation allele occurs when 55-200 CGG repeats are present and levels of the FMR1 gene product, Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP) …

Go to article

Rapid Evolution Of Sperm Chromatin Remodeling Proteins In Primates, Hanna Catherine Corliss May 2018

Rapid Evolution Of Sperm Chromatin Remodeling Proteins In Primates, Hanna Catherine Corliss

Anthropology

Spermatogenesis requires both the remodeling and condensation of chromatin, a process facilitated by the sequential replacement of histones with sperm-specific DNA binding proteins. First, the transition nuclear proteins 1 and 2 (TNP1, TNP2) act to replace the sperm-specific histones, then they are themselves replaced by protamine 1 (PRM1) and, in some species, protamine 2 (PRM2). It has been theorized that changes to these chromatin-remodeling proteins may affect an organism’s sperm formation, and thus reproductive success. While studies have found that PRM1 evolves rapidly, with evidence of positive selection on the human lineage, and that PRM2 has also evolved rapidly in …

Go to article

Phenology Of A Southern Population Of Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus Ponderosae), Anne Elise Mcmanis May 2018

Phenology Of A Southern Population Of Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus Ponderosae), Anne Elise Mcmanis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae, Hopkins) is a major disturbance agent in pine ecosystems of western North America. Adaptation to local climates has resulted in primarily univoltine (one generation per year) generation timing across a thermally diverse latitudinal gradient. We hypothesized that this pattern in total development time is shaped by selection for slower developmental rates, altered developmental thresholds, or oviposition rates in southern populations inhabiting warmer climates. To investigate traits responsible for latitudinal differences we measured lifestage-specific development of southern mountain pine beetle eggs, larvae and pupae across a range of temperatures. We also describe and model …

Go to article

The Effect Of Anthropogenic Activity On Sea Turtle Nesting And Habitat Usage In Florida, Usa, Raschelli Anna-Elizabeth Linz May 2018

The Effect Of Anthropogenic Activity On Sea Turtle Nesting And Habitat Usage In Florida, Usa, Raschelli Anna-Elizabeth Linz

Theses and Dissertations

Sea turtles have complex life histories that make them difficult to study. Using easily-accessible data, such as nesting and stranding occurrences, can help to efficiently elucidate driving factors in the population dynamics of these imperiled species. The overall goal of the present study was to assess the efficacy of sea turtle protective measures in Florida. To accomplish this goal, two analyses were conducted. The first analysis sought to describe the relationship between nesting numbers of three species of marine turtles, the loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia mydas), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), common in Florida and various anthropogenic and environmental variables. …

Go to article

The Role Of Freshwater Drum As A Host Of Freshwater Mussels, Unionidae, Michael S. Martin May 2018

The Role Of Freshwater Drum As A Host Of Freshwater Mussels, Unionidae, Michael S. Martin

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Freshwater Drum, Aplodinotus grunniens, serves as fish host to multiple mussel species. Some mussel species are “drum specialists” in the sense that Freshwater Drum is apparently the only host that they utilize. Freshwater Drum diet consists partly of mussels, which it crushes with specially adapted pharyngeal teeth. The Freshwater Drum’s habit of feeding on mussels should favor adaptations to use the species as a host. Mussels that use Freshwater Drum as host could adapt to attract the fish. I predicted that many other species will have some ability to use Freshwater Drum as host because of its habit of …

Go to article

Spectral Sensitivity Of The Invasive Lionfish (Pterois Species) Retina And Its Capacity For Change In Response To Lighting Condition, Miranda Roseland Carroll May 2018

Spectral Sensitivity Of The Invasive Lionfish (Pterois Species) Retina And Its Capacity For Change In Response To Lighting Condition, Miranda Roseland Carroll

Theses and Dissertations

Since their first confirmed sighting in 1985 in the tropical western Atlantic, invasive lionfish of the genus Pterois have had a detrimental impact on marine systems in this region, including significant declines in native reef-fish populations. The environmental tolerances of these predators are very broad, allowing them to inhabit a variety of environments: they can withstand large ranges of depths, salinities, and temperatures. Understanding their physiological and behavioral characteristics can provide insight for the success of these invaders. Adaptable visual capabilities is one biological characteristic that may assist their invasive success. I hypothesized that lionfish possess retinal plasticity and can …

Go to article

Leaf Trichomes Affect Caterpillar Feeding In An Instar-Specific Manner, Rupesh R. Kariyat, Sean B. Hardison, Aisling B. Ryan, Andrew G. Stephenson, Consuelo M. De Moraes, Mark C. Mescher May 2018

Leaf Trichomes Affect Caterpillar Feeding In An Instar-Specific Manner, Rupesh R. Kariyat, Sean B. Hardison, Aisling B. Ryan, Andrew G. Stephenson, Consuelo M. De Moraes, Mark C. Mescher

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

Leaf trichomes play well-established roles in defense against insect herbivores, both as a physical barrier that impedes herbivore movement and by mediating chemical defenses. However, little work has examined how different trichome types influence herbivory by herbivores at different stages of development. We examined whether caterpillar instar and trichome type (glandular or non-glandular) affected the ability of the specialist herbivore caterpillar Manduca sexta to initiate feeding on 11 Solanaceous species exhibiting variation in the density and type of leaf trichomes. Our results suggest that non-glandular trichomes are far more effective than glandular trichomes in deterring the initiation of feeding by …

Go to article

Species Delimitation Among Southeastern Us Oxyloma (Gastropoda: Succineidae), Marco A. Martinez Cruz May 2018

Species Delimitation Among Southeastern Us Oxyloma (Gastropoda: Succineidae), Marco A. Martinez Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

The Succineid genus Oxyloma found throughout Canada and United States contains approximately 15 described species whose criterion for differentiation is considered unreliable. As a first step towards understanding the evolutionary history and revising the taxonomy of North American Oxyloma, we have sampled four species found in eastern North America (O. salleana, O. subeffusa, O. effusa, and O. retusa) from their type localities. We used mitochondrial COI, and nuclear LSU sequences with samples found across their range and members of the family to produce a phylogenetic hypothesis of evolutionary relationships and test species boundaries. Molecular phylogeny and species …

Go to article

A Phylogeographic Analysis Of Black Coral (Antipatharia) On Artificial And Natural Reefs In The Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico, Heather Otte May 2018

A Phylogeographic Analysis Of Black Coral (Antipatharia) On Artificial And Natural Reefs In The Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico, Heather Otte

Theses and Dissertations

NOAA's Islands in the Stream concept (IitS) of designating networks of marine protected areas as refugia in the Gulf of Mexico depends on genetic connectivity. Isolated habitats like those proposed by the IitS occur naturally off the Texas coast where hard-bottom structures protrude from mudflats, offering a small-scale study of the IitS feasibility. Two sequences, mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA and nuclear internal transcribed spacer, were used to build haplotype networks of Antipatharians (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia), corals with planktonic larvae that can act as a proxy for connectivity of other organisms. Two species showed no significant genetic differentiation or pattern of genetic …

Go to article

Regulation Of The Tubulin Homolog Ftsz In Escherichia Coli, Monika S. Buczek May 2018

Regulation Of The Tubulin Homolog Ftsz In Escherichia Coli, Monika S. Buczek

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Escherichia coli is a well-known pathogen, and importantly, a widely used model organism in all fields of biological sciences for cloning, protein purification, and as a model for Gram-negative bacterial species. And yet, researchers do not fully understand how this bacterium replicates and divides. Every year additional division proteins are discovered, which adds complexity to how we understand E. coli undergoes cell division. Due to their specific roles in cytokinesis, some of these proteins may be potential targets for development of antibacterials or bacteriostatics, which are much needed for fighting the current global antibacterial deficit. My thesis work focuses on …

Go to article

Does Interest Equal Success? Evaluating Student Perceptions Of The Study Of Biology And Their Effects On Student Success In An Introductory Biology Course, Courtney Irene Barlow May 2018

Does Interest Equal Success? Evaluating Student Perceptions Of The Study Of Biology And Their Effects On Student Success In An Introductory Biology Course, Courtney Irene Barlow

Honors Theses

As instructors begin to devote more time to improving student perceptions of biology, the validity of these efforts should be determined. Do students possessing favorable views of biology regularly perform on a higher level than those with less favorable impressions, or would class time be better spent without exercises intended to increase student interest? The goal of this project was to address the research questions “How do students view the study of biology?”, “How do student perceptions of the subject area affect their performance in an Introductory Biology course?”, and “How does a student’s chosen area of study affect their …

Go to article

Using Molecular Markers To Trace The Population History Of Volant Organisms At Differing Temporal Scales, Noah A. Burg May 2018

Using Molecular Markers To Trace The Population History Of Volant Organisms At Differing Temporal Scales, Noah A. Burg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using molecular markers to test phylogenetic and phylogeographic hypotheses is critical for tracking the population origin of invasive, introduced species (Chapter 2, Chapter 4) and to identify the systematic relationships of disparate lineages at both shallow and deep evolutionary time scales (Chapters 3, Chapter 4). In this thesis, Sanger Sequencing was used to generate datasets based on fresh and preserved tissue from specimens collected in the field, as well as museum tissue vouchers granted from various institutions in the US and Europe. In combining these source materials, data were generated for three focal studies: 1) In the first research section …

Go to article

The Role Of Oxidative Stress And Signal Transduction In Chemotherapy-Mediated Cognitive Impairment In The Menopause Rat Model, Ciara Bagnall May 2018

The Role Of Oxidative Stress And Signal Transduction In Chemotherapy-Mediated Cognitive Impairment In The Menopause Rat Model, Ciara Bagnall

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Systemic chemotherapy treatment is associated with long-term cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors. While many studies have established the forms of cognition and corresponding regions in the brain most affected, very little is revealed about the potential molecular mechanisms that mediate these changes. The effects of systemic treatment on the brain is likely attributed to many different mechanisms including oxidative stress and immune dysregulation. Earlier studies from our lab have investigated the effects of the chemotherapy cocktail doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC Chemotherapy) in an ovariectomized menopause animal model of ‘chemo brain’ (Salas-Ramirez et al., 2015). We observed that animals injected …

Go to article

A Contribution Toward A Global Monograph Of Gyroporus: Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Biogeography, Naveed Davoodian May 2018

A Contribution Toward A Global Monograph Of Gyroporus: Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Biogeography, Naveed Davoodian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gyroporus (Sclerodermatineae, Boletales, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi) is a genus of ectomycorrhizal mushroom-forming fungi distributed throughout the world in suitable habitats. Previous attempts to untangle the diversity of this genus proved difficult due to the presence of semi-cryptic species and equivocal results from phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal RNA markers. To overcome these obstacles, a combined taxonomic and phylogenetic (emphasizing protein-coding genes) approach is used here to delimit species and elucidate geographic and evolutionary patterns of Gyroporus. Careful study of relevant literature and herbarium specimens was augmented by field work in North America, Australia, and East Asia for observation and collection …

Go to article

Breeding Season Ecology And Demography Of Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis) At Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Jeffrey M. Warren May 2018

Breeding Season Ecology And Demography Of Lesser Scaup (Aythya Affinis) At Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Jeffrey M. Warren

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It is hypothesized that individuals make reproductive decisions based on current assessments of their physiological condition and environmental conditions. For female lesser scaup (Aythya affinis), breeding occurs after an energetically costly spring migration. Increasing fat reserves (i.e., ‘body condition’) prior to breeding allows a female to produce a larger clutch of eggs, but time spent gaining body condition is costly in terms of time allowed to raise ducklings before freezing conditions in the fall. In Chapter 2 I explored rate of pre-breeding body condition gain in female lesser scaup, and how that rate influenced clutch size. Spring phenology, …

Go to article

Historical Biogeography And Natural History Of Nocturnal Wasps In The Southwestern Deserts With Special Emphasis On The Genus Chyphotes (Hymenoptera: Chyphotidae), Emily A. Sadler May 2018

Historical Biogeography And Natural History Of Nocturnal Wasps In The Southwestern Deserts With Special Emphasis On The Genus Chyphotes (Hymenoptera: Chyphotidae), Emily A. Sadler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Deserts are interesting places due to the large number of plants and animals that live there. Nocturnal wasps are extremely abundant in deserts, but they are difficult to identify and their life cycles are not well known especially the families of Chyphotidae, Tiphiidae (Brachycistidinae), and Mutillidae (velvet ants). In this dissertation, I determine how to correctly identify a particularly difficult group of species that all have black heads from the family Chyphotidae. This is important because these species make up a large proportion of specimens collected. Also, I expanded our knowledge on the distribution of the species of these three …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last