Biology Commons^™

Botanical Inventory And Management Consideration For Potential Park At 32 Nd Street Property: City Of Grand Rapids Parks And Recreation, David Warners, William Hofmann, Hayden Janssen, Martin Vanderschoot, Garrett Crow

Faculty and Professional Research

During the spring and summer of 2022, a botanical inventory and floristic quality assessment was carried out by Calvin University students and faculty for the 32 nd Street Property proposed as a 17-acre potential City Park, located at 2163 32 nd Street SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The purpose of this inventory was to inform the staff of the Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation Department of the botanical significance of this newly sectioned property and also to provide information for the City to share with neighbors of the plants that could be found in this parcel. The research conducted as …

Botanical Assessments Of High-Quality Southern Shrub-Carr And Hardwood Swamp Wetlands In The Undeveloped Lowell Regional Greenspace, Kent County, Michigan, Garrett Crow, Dave Warners, Haley R. Weesies, Jonathon D. Walt, Zachary Hartwig, Carolyn H. Koehn

Faculty and Professional Research

The 2019–2023 Masterplan for Kent County Parks includes the future development of acquired properties that have been designated as the Lowell Regional Greenspace (528 acres), occupying nearly the entirety of Section 22 of Lowell Charter Township in Kent County, Michigan. Four wetlands located in the same drainage basin along Karen Creek in the Lowell Regional Greenspace were inventoried for floristic quality assessments during the summers of 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021. One of the wetlands was forested and determined to be a southern hardwood swamp community type. The other three wetlands are best classified as shrub-carr communities. In the southern …

The Ecology And Dispersal Of The Avian Vampire Fly In Its Native And Invasive Ranges, Carly M. Crow

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Invasive species are considered a leading threat to global biodiversity. There are three major steps in a successful invasion: 1. A species arrives to a non-native location 2. It establishes a breeding population 3. It spreads beyond the location of arrival. The need to understand what variables facilitate a successful invasion across these steps is pressing, especially when considering systems that are vulnerable to biodiversity loss such as islands. The first chapter of this thesis focuses on the arrival step of an invasion. I present research on insects found on a tourist boat traveling between islands in the Galapagos archipelago. …

Grassland Bird Responses To Bison And Prescribed Fire Disturbances At Nachusa Grasslands And Kankakee Sands, Antonio Del Valle

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Grazing from native herbivores such as bison (Bison bison), in combination with prescribed fire, are applied to tallgrass prairies by managers to recreate important disturbance patterns in this ecosystem. Bird communities may be indirectly impacted by these disturbances through their direct impact on plants that provides critical breeding habitat for grassland birds. The objectives of this research are to determine the impacts that bison and prescribed fire have on grassland breeding birds in two tallgrass prairie preserves, Kankakee Sands and Nachusa Grasslands. Birds, vegetation structure, and bison activity were surveyed systematically at these two preserves in 2020 and 2021. Prescribed …

Wetland Restoration Efforts Result In Increasing Phylogenetic Diversity, Nicholas T. Foster

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Over the course of ecological restoration efforts, it has been observed that, despite restoration activities, species richness sometimes declines in a given habitat. While this response can be interpreted to mean that restoration activities are ineffective, other measures known as Phylogenetic Diversity Metrics can show that the community is actually becoming more diverse. Utilizing plant inventories collected as transect data from 1992-2021 of five wetland sites under various types of restoration in northern Illinois, a regional wetland community phylogeny was assembled. The community phylogeny was then analyzed for phylogenetic diversity measures through this 30-year period across the five sites. Additionally, …

Microbial Community And Soil Responses To Land Management Practices In Remnant And Restored Tallgrass Prairies, Desirae Marie Klimek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Critical ecosystem functions, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, are driven by microbial communities within soil. As such, it is important to examine the effect of restoration practices, such as the presence of native grazers and prescribed burning, on these microbes and the soil they inhabit. The Nachusa Grasslands provides a chronosequence of restored tallgrass prairies ranging in restoration age from 5 to 33 years, as well as remnant prairies, and agricultural fields. These sites were sampled seasonally from 2013-2020 and microbial ribosomal RNA genes were surveyed to characterize soil microbial communities and assess how common restoration practices affect these …

Aspergillus Nidulans Septa Are Indispensable For Surviving Cell Wall Stress, Ryland N. Spence, Walker Huso, Harley Edwards, Alexander Doan, Samantha Reese, Steven D. Harris, Ranjan Srivastava, Mark R. Marten

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Septation in filamentous fungi is a normal part of development, which involves the formation of cross-hyphal bulkheads, typically containing pores, allowing cytoplasmic streaming between compartments. Based on previous findings regarding septa and cell wall stress, we hypothesized that septa are critical for survival during cell wall stress. To test this hypothesis, we used known Aspergillus nidulans septation-deficient mutants (ΔsepH, Δbud3, Δbud4, and Δrho4) and six antifungal compounds. Three of these compounds (micafungin, Congo red, and calcofluor white) are known cell wall stressors which activate the cell wall integrity signaling pathway (CWIS), while the three others (cycloheximide, miconazole, and 2,3-butanedione monoxime) …

Representations And Perceptions Of Sexual Pleasure In Undergraduate Anatomy And Physiology (A&P) Courses, Brenda Kucha Anak Ganeng

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The World Health Organization defines sexual pleasure as an important part of positive sexual experiences and sexual health. Despite its importance, sexual pleasure is often omitted from sexual health programming and curricula. Undergraduate human anatomy and physiology (A&P) courses serve as avenues where students who intend to go into health care learn foundational knowledge about human body systems and health; however, to our knowledge, there has been no documentation of if and how A&P students learn about sexual pleasure. A&P textbooks serve as an important resource for curriculum design and learning. I sought to answer the following research question: How …

Characterization And Quantification Of Far Red Oxygen Production Rates In Acaryochloris Spp., Jose Manuel Orench-Benvenutti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Oxygenic photosynthesis is one of the primary metabolisms on Earth responsible for the evolution of complex life. Its advent around the Archean steadily increased Earth’s atmospheric oxygen from negligible amounts to biologically impressive quantities. Atmospheric oxygen is the sole result of billions of years of biological oxygenation and no abiotic process can account for its high presence in the Earth’s atmosphere. Understanding its origins and evolution can lead us to better understand Earth’s biological history and the possibility of analogues elsewhere. A research path that could lead to answers is comparing distinct incorporations of photopigments in various oxygenic phototrophs. In …

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease And Other Diseases Affect Adults And Recruits Of Major Reef Builders At Different Spatial Scales In The Dominican Republic, Aldo Croquer, Someira Zambrano, Samuel King, Aurelio Reyes, Rita I. Sellares Blasco, Andreina Valdez Trinidad, Maria Villalpando, Yira Rodriguez-Jerez, Estefany Vargas, Camilo Cortes-Useche, Macarena Blanco, Johanna Calle-Triviño, Rebecca García-Camps, Ana C. Hernández-Orquet, Ruben Torres, Iker Irazabal, Laura Díaz, Yassmin Evangelista, Emy Miyazawa

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Monitoring programs can help understand coral disease dynamics. Here, we present results from a national program in the Dominican Republic (DR) aimed at evaluating coral diseases 3 times a year following a nested spatial design. Prevalence of coral diseases in DR varied from sites to regions, suggesting that disease dynamics can be driven by local processes and/or across larger spatial scales. Three diseases were common: Dark Spot (DSD), Yellow Band (YBD) and Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). DSD and YBD were more prevalent across the western coast (north and south), whereas SCTLD was restricted for the study period to …

Observing Gravitropism In Brassica Rapa Roots, Trang Ly, Maya O'Callagham, Lan Poeschl, Adil Saeed, George Zorn

UROP Posters

The objective of this experiment is to observe the effect of gravitropism on the orientation of Brassica rapa (B. rapa) roots. Specifically, amyloplasts that reside at the bottom of root tips act as gravity sensors. As plants are disturbed from upright orientation, roots automatically grow according to the downward pull of gravity. It is hypothesized that as the angle of rotation increases, the angle of root growth is inversely proportional. Five plants containing four seeds of B. rapa were grown over the course of 10 days. Each plates, aside from the control, were rotated once 90°, 80°, and 270° to …

Food Neophobia Across The Life Course: Pooling Data From Five National Cross-Sectional Surveys In Ireland, Daniel Hazley, Mairead Stack, Janette Walton, Breige A. Mcnulty, John Kearney

Articles

Food neophobia describes a reluctance to eat novel foods. Levels of food neophobia vary throughout life and are thought to peak in childhood. However, the trajectory of food neophobia across the life course is not fully clear. Using data from five national cross-sectional surveys in Ireland we explored levels of food neophobia in males and females aged 1–87 years. In addition, we assessed the influence of sociodemographic factors, breastfeeding and parental food neophobia on food neophobia. Food neophobia was measured using the Food Neophobia Scale in adults and adolescents and with the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire in preschool and school …

Monitoring And Modelling The Dynamics Of The Cellular Glycolysis Pathway: A Review And Future Perspectives, Nitin Patil, Hugh Byrne, Orla L. Howe, Paul A. Cahill

Articles

Background

The dynamics of the cellular glycolysis pathway underpin cellular function and dysfunction, and therefore ultimately health, disease, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Evolving our understanding of this fundamental process and its dynamics remains critical.

Scope of review

This paper reviews the medical relevance of glycolytic pathway in depth and explores the current state of the art for monitoring and modelling the dynamics of the process. The future perspectives of label free, vibrational microspectroscopic techniques to overcome the limitations of the current approaches are considered.

Major conclusions

Vibrational microspectroscopic techniques can potentially operate in the niche area of limitations of other …

Attempting Genetic Inference From Directional Asymmetry During Convergent Hindlimb Reduction In Squamates, Samantha Swank, Ethan Elazegui, Sophia Janidlo, Thomas J. Sanger, Michael A. Bell, Yoel E. Stuart

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Loss and reduction in paired appendages are common in vertebrate evolution. How often does such convergent evolution depend on similar developmental and genetic pathways? For example, many populations of the threespine stickleback and ninespine stickleback (Gasterosteidae) have independently evolved pelvic reduction, usually based on independent mutations that caused reduced Pitx1 expression. Reduced Pitx1 expression has also been implicated in pelvic reduction in manatees. Thus, hindlimb reduction stemming from reduced Pitx1 expression has arisen independently in groups that diverged tens to hundreds of millions of years ago, suggesting a potential for repeated use of Pitx1 across vertebrates. Notably, hindlimb reduction based …

Discordant Population Structure Among Rhizobium Divided Genomes And Their Legume Hosts, Alex B. Riley, Michael A. Grillo, Brendan Epstein, Peter Tiffin, Katy D. Heath

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Symbiosis often occurs between partners with distinct life history characteristics and dispersal mechanisms. Many bacterial symbionts have genomes comprising multiple replicons with distinct rates of evolution and horizontal transmission. Such differences might drive differences in population structure between hosts and symbionts and among the elements of the divided genomes of bacterial symbionts. These differences might, in turn, shape the evolution of symbiotic interactions and bacterial evolution. Here we use whole genome resequencing of a hierarchically structured sample of 191 strains of Sinorhizobium meliloti collected from 21 locations in southern Europe to characterize population structures of this bacterial symbiont, which forms …

Gut Dysbiosis In Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma Is Characterized By Shifts In Relative Abundances Of Specific Bacterial Taxa And Decreased Diversity In More Advanced Disease, Madeline J. Hooper, T.M. Lewitt, Y. Pang, F.L. Veon, G.E Chlipala, L. Feferman, S.J. Green, D. Sweeney, K.T. Bagnowski, Michael B. Burns, P.C. Seed, J. Choi, J. Guitart, X.A. Zhou

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) patients often suffer from recurrent skin infections and profound immune dysregulation in advanced disease. The gut microbiome has been recognized to influence cancers and cutaneous conditions; however, it has not yet been studied in CTCL.ObjectivesTo investigate the gut microbiome in patients with CTCL and in healthy controls.MethodsA case-control study was conducted between January 2019 and November 2020 at Northwestern’s busy multidisciplinary CTCL clinic (Chicago, Illinois, USA) utilizing 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing and bioinformatics analyses to characterize the microbiota present in fecal samples of CTCL patients (n = 38) and age-matched healthy controls (n …

Elucidating The Function Of An Evolutionarily Conserved Col2Α1 Isoform During Vertebrate Development, Charles Lantz H. Ingersoll

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Formation of skeletal structural elements during vertebrate embryogenesis is largely a

conserved evolutionary process that employs numerous conserved genes and pathways. One

critical gene in this process is the highly conserved vertebrate Type II Collagen alpha 1 (col2α1).

It produces multiple splice isoforms that have different functions and expression patterns during

skeletogenesis. Two of the primary isoforms are of great interest; variant 1, the primary

embryonic isoform, and variant 2, a post embryonic isoform. While the more commonly known

post-embryonic isoform has been well studied over the last 30 years, identification of a unique

role for the evolutionarily conserved …

Development And Characterization Of A Tissue-Specific Reporter Line For Monitoring Circadian Clock Transcriptional Activity, Lilyan Mather

Master's Theses

Daily rhythms in physiology and behavior are produced by a circadian system consisting of a central clock located in the brain and peripheral clocks located in various peripheral tissues. Circadian clocks track time of day through the presence of a molecular clock that functions as a transcriptional-translational feedback loop. In the nucleus, the transcription factors CLOCK (CLK) and CYCLE (CYC) activate transcription of clock genes period (per) and timeless (tim). PER and TIM proteins slowly accumulate in the cytoplasm before entering the nucleus, where they inhibit CLK and CYC, and therefore repress their own transcription. Degradation of nuclear PER and …

Comparison Of Feeding Functional Morphology Development In North American Esocids, Cheryl Theile

Master's Theses

Esocidae is a family of freshwater fishes within order Esociformes known for its long, cylindrical bodies, duck-bill snouts, and an impressive number of sharp teeth. There are four species, including two subspecies, in North America with areas of overlap of their geographic distribution. These ambush predators change diets from invertebrate prey to vertebrate prey during their first year of life, and the timing of this shift varies between species. In particular, the sister species Esox lucius (Northern Pike) and Esox masquinongy (Muskellunge) overlap in the upper Midwest, but E. masquinongy transitions to a vertebrate diet sooner in its development than …

Twitter: More Than Tweets For Undergraduate Student Researchers, Nathan S. Reyna, Christin Pruett, Mike Morrison, Jennifer Fowler, Sumali Pandey, Lori Hensley

Research, Publications & Creative Work

A vital component of a CURE is feeling a sense of community. While our students often present to each other at the end of the semester, we have struggled with having them interact with a wider audience. A few students may present class results at a regional or national meeting; however, feasibility limits this opportunity to only a handful of students. Twitter has been used as a tool to disseminate scientific findings (1, 2). As a result of COVID-19, scientific societies have used Twitter to provide snapshots of research to be presented at their virtual meetings using “Twitter Posters” (Michael …

Biofilms On Plastic Litter: Community Composition And Activity And The Effects On Ecosystem Processes, Raul F. Lazcano

Master's Theses

The rapid increase of plastic production and disposal has resulted in plastic pollution becoming a global problem. In aquatic ecosystems, plastic litter is a substrate for biofilms, but little research has simultaneously assessed the effects of plastic litter on biofilm activity, community composition, and ecosystem processes. Our objectives were to: (1) measure biofilm activity and community composition on plastic litter relative to a natural surface in an urban river and (2) assess the impact of microplastic pollution on ecosystem metabolism and N2 flux in an oligotrophic lake. For objective (1) we incubated three common plastics with distinct physical and chemical …

Can Gdp Be Predictive Of Fertility Rates In Sweden?, Hannah Coleman

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Fertility rates in a country vary and can be influenced by numerous different aspects of an individual’s life and the society in which they live. One aspect that may influence fertility rates at the national level is the gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is an indicator of a country’s economic productivity. Because fertility is linked to both economic development and individual resources, GDP may be a useful indicator of fertility rates. If so, knowing or predicting GDP could be used to project the fertility rates of a population years into the future. To determine if a reasonable connection between GDP …

Identification Of A Rickettsial Endosymbiont In A Soft Tick Ornithodoros Turicata Americanus, Lichao Liu, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Bacterial endosymbionts are abundantly found in both hard and soft ticks. Occidentia massiliensis, a rickettsial endosymbiont, was first identified in the soft tick Ornithodoros sonrai collected from Senegal and later was identified in a hard tick Africaniella transversale. In this study, we noted the presence of Occidentia species, designated as Occidentia-like species, in a soft tick O. turicata americanus. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of the two genetic markers, 16S rRNA and groEL confirmed the presence of Occidentia-like species in O. turicata americanus ticks. The Occidentia-like species was noted to be present in all developmental stages …

Development Of Diagnostic Methods And Epidermiology Of Tuberculosis In Free-Ranging Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca Fascicularis And Rhesus Macaque M. Mulatta In Thailand, Suthirote Meesawat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Cross-species infectious disease transmission, especially between humans and wildlife, is increasing during the global warming. Tuberculosis (TB) is an air-borne infectious disease that can be transmitted from humans to non-human primates (NHPs), however, no report of TB prevalence in free ranging NHPs that highly interacted with humans in Thailand was published. Thus, this study was conducted and separated into 3 phases. Phase I, active TB in 1,836 free-ranging macaques including 6 rhesus (Macaca mulatta; Mm), 23 common long-tailed (M. fascicularis fascicularis; Mff), and 3 Burmese long-tailed (M. f. aurea; Mfa) macaque populations throughout Thailand was assesses. Monkeys were captured, anesthetized, …

Stop, Then Go! Rapid Acceleration Offsets The Costs Of Intermittent Locomotion When Turning In Florida Scrub Lizards, Cheyenne Walker

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Intermittent locomotion is a commonly used escape strategy with a wide array of potential benefits. Pausing may aid in locating a predator, crypsis, lowering energy costs, and avoiding obstacles. Turning may also benefit from intermittent locomotion by allowing an animal time to assess its surroundings; therefore, decreasing the chances of making a mistake and/or stumbling. Florida scrub lizards live in environments with a variety of obstacles such as turns. The goal of this study is to quantify the locomotor behavior and performance by lizards while navigating a 45° or 90° turn. Lizards were run along both a 45° and 90° …

Impacts Of Changing Permafrost Conditions On Vegetation Productivity In The Northern Boreal Forest, Emily Ogden

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Vegetation productivity across the boreal forest has increased over the past several decades. However, at a regional scale there is large variation from increased (greening) to decreased (browning) productivity and large areas with no measured change. Some of this variation can be explained by disturbances, such as wildfire, or by increased climate variability. In northern regions underlain by permafrost, the interactions between climate, disturbance, and vegetation productivity may be more complex. For my thesis, I used a time-series of ground thermal data from permafrost monitoring sites established by the Geological Survey of Canada along a latitudinal transect of the Northwest …

Impact Of Orthophosphate As A Corrosion Inhibitor And Chloramine Disinfectant On Drinking Water Biofilm Communities, Mitchell Cooke

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A drinking water distribution system (DWDS) must maintain conditions within quality standards which assure the effective and safe transport of finished drinking water from treatment plants to the household tap. Although safe to drink, finished water is not sterile, and may contain hundreds of microorganisms in a single milliliter. These microorganisms are present from the source waters, such as lakes, rivers and aquifers, and have passed through early treatment steps. Final treatment steps, such as the maintenance of disinfectant residuals, are used to further minimize viable cells present and focus on the reduction of harmful organisms. Microbial cells entering the …

Design And Validation Of Artificial Feeders To Study Feeding Preferences And Growth Of Hematophagous Juvenile Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus), Gracie Li-Ting-Wai

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The parasitic and invasive land-locked sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus populations contributed to the collapse of the Great Lakes fisheries in the mid-1900s, while native anadromous populations are currently under threat and require conservation efforts for protection. Despite the increasing concern for both populations of this species, the juvenile stage of the sea lamprey’s life cycle has not been well studied. This is due, in part, to ethical concerns raised around holding live host fish with juveniles and the lack of an alternative feeding method to maintain these juveniles in the laboratory. The feeder should be designed to minimize fouling of …

The Influence Of Faculty Peer Network Communication In The Diffusion Of A Centralized Cure, Nicole L. Scheuermann

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide students the benefits of undergraduate research participation by incorporating authentic scientific research into laboratory courses. CUREs are a relatively young pedagogy and are therefore innovative. Roger’s (2003) diffusion of innovations (DOI) framework posits that the diffusion of innovations, such as CUREs, is a highly social process. Most existing CURE research has focused on the impacts to students and the critical elements of CURE design. Investigation into instructor peer network communication is largely absent from the existing CURE literature. This study investigates the structure and function of a CURE community – the Malate Dehydrogenase CURE …

Mortality In Interspecific Hybrids Of Nasonia Vitripennis And Nasonia Giraulti, Bonnie Cobb

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Nasonia is a parasitoid wasp genus that serves as an emerging model for studying speciation due to an incompatibility between nuclear and mitochondrial genomes between sister taxa. Short generation times, easy rearing in a lab setting, producing large amounts of progeny, and whole genome sequencing make Nasonia is an excellent candidate for studying incomplete reproductive isolation. Nasonia have five chromosomes and exhibit haplo-diploid sex determination in which fertilized eggs develop into diploid females and unfertilized eggs develop into haploid males. Recessive phenotypes are hidden in diploid females but are laid bare in haploid males as there is no interaction between …