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Articles 181 - 207 of 207

Full-Text Articles in Biology

Analyses Of Diet And Geographic Variation In Leaf-Nosed Snakes, Phyllorhynchus, Stephanie A. Gardner May 2002

Analyses Of Diet And Geographic Variation In Leaf-Nosed Snakes, Phyllorhynchus, Stephanie A. Gardner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study revealed that P. decurtatus primarily eat squamate eggs, and that the diet of P. browni appears to consist entirely of squamate eggs; gecko tails constitute a very small proportion of the diet of P. decurtatus. Feeding in both species occurred throughout their active seasons and both species increased prey consumption in August. The sexes of P. browni, but not P. decurtatus showed different monthly feeding patterns. Desert-of-collection did not affect P. decurtatus monthly feeding patterns. Phyllorhynchus decurtatus collected from the Sonoran Desert and P. browni, which is found only in the Sonoran Desert, showed similar …

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A Middle Pleistocene Age And Biogeography For The Extinct Rodent Megalomys Curazensis From Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg Jan 2002

A Middle Pleistocene Age And Biogeography For The Extinct Rodent Megalomys Curazensis From Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

The extinct oryzomyine rodent Megalomys curazensis has been known from abundant but fragmentary remains on the island of Curaçao since 1959. Here we demonstrate an age of 130 000 to 400 000 years before present based on geomorphological context, and propose a biogeographical model for the genus.

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Algal Blooms Reduce The Uptake Of Toxic Methylmercury In Freshwater Food Webs, Paul C. Pickhardt, Carol L. Folt, Celia Y. Chen, Bjoern Klaue, Joel D. Blum Jan 2002

Algal Blooms Reduce The Uptake Of Toxic Methylmercury In Freshwater Food Webs, Paul C. Pickhardt, Carol L. Folt, Celia Y. Chen, Bjoern Klaue, Joel D. Blum

Dartmouth Scholarship

Mercury accumulation in fish is a global public health concern, because fish are the primary source of toxic methylmercury to humans. Fish from all lakes do not pose the same level of risk to consumers. One of the most intriguing patterns is that potentially dangerous mercury concentrations can be found in fish from clear, oligotrophic lakes whereas fish from greener, eutrophic lakes often carry less mercury. In this study, we experimentally tested the hypothesis that increasing algal biomass reduces mercury accumulation at higher trophic levels through the dilution of mercury in consumed algal cells. Under bloom dilution, as algal biomass …

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Puerto Rican Karst - A Vital Resource, Ariel E. Lugo, Leopoldo Miranda Castro, Abel Vale, Tania Del Mar López, Enrique Hernández Prieto, Andrés García Martinó, Alberto R. Puente Rolón, Adrianne G. Tossas, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Tom Miller, Armando Rodríguez, Joyce Lundberg, John Thomlinson, José Colón, Johannes H. Schellekens, Olga Ramos, Eileen Helmer Aug 2001

Puerto Rican Karst - A Vital Resource, Ariel E. Lugo, Leopoldo Miranda Castro, Abel Vale, Tania Del Mar López, Enrique Hernández Prieto, Andrés García Martinó, Alberto R. Puente Rolón, Adrianne G. Tossas, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Tom Miller, Armando Rodríguez, Joyce Lundberg, John Thomlinson, José Colón, Johannes H. Schellekens, Olga Ramos, Eileen Helmer

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

The limestone region of Puerto Rico covers about 27.5 percent of the island's surface and is subdivided into the northern, southern, and dispersed limestone areas. All limestone areas have karst features. The karst belt is that part of the northern limestone with the most spectacular surficial karst landforms. It covers 142,544 ha or 65 percent of the northern limestone. The karst belt is the focus of this publication, although reference is made to all limestone regions. The northern limestone contains Puerto Rico's most extensive freshwater aquifer, largest continuous expanse of mature forest, and largest coastal wetland, estuary, and underground cave …

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The Age Of The Woolly Rhino From Dream Cave, Derbyshire, Uk, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg, Derek C. Ford Apr 2000

The Age Of The Woolly Rhino From Dream Cave, Derbyshire, Uk, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg, Derek C. Ford

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

The Dream Cave woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis, is a "classic" specimen of a "cold-stage" fossil fauna from central England. The find was illustrated and described by Dean William Buckland in his seminal tome Reliquiae Diluvianae (1823) during the first half of the 19th century, and made a significant contribution to the development of Buckland's views on the origin of extinct and extirpated fossil vertebrates. The report presents the first, albeit indirect, radiometric dates on the specimen, and argues that the animal fell into the cave just before 37,000 years BP, during the middle of Marine Isotope Stage 3 Interstadial (41 …

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Late Quaternary Fossil Mammals And Last Occurrence Dates From Caves At Barahona, Puerto Rico, Donald A. Mcfarlane Dec 1999

Late Quaternary Fossil Mammals And Last Occurrence Dates From Caves At Barahona, Puerto Rico, Donald A. Mcfarlane

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Puerto Rico supported at least five genera of endemic terrestrial mammals in the late Quaternary, all of which are extinct. Whether these animals died out in the late Pleistocene, the mid-Holocene, or in post-Columbian time has not been established. This paper is the first attempt at radiometrically dating the 'last occurrences' of these taxa, together with the first unambiguous descriptions of localities reported by previous workers. Last occurrence dates for Nesophontes, Elasmodontomys and Heteropsomys are shown to be mid-Holocene and overlap with Amerindian occupation of the island. Acratocnus is known only from the late Pleistocene. No Puerto Rican taxon has …

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The Age Of The Kirkdale Cave Palaeofauna, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Derek C. Ford Apr 1998

The Age Of The Kirkdale Cave Palaeofauna, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Derek C. Ford

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

The Kirkdale Cave palaeofauna represents the original and classic 'warm', interglacial mammalian cave deposit in Britain. Although long considered to be 'Ipswichian' in age, no previous attempts to obtain radiometric dates have been recorded. Here we report a uranium-series disequilibrium date of 121,000 ± 4000 yr BP on a flowstone capping that overlay the original bone bed. The precision of the date exceeds that obtained at any other British Interglacial cave site, and permits tentative correlation with the high precision ice core records now available.

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The Interaction Between Cytoplasmic Dynein And Dynactin Is Required For Fast Axonal Transport, Clare M. Waterman-Storer, Sher B. Karki, Sergei A. Kunetsov, Joel S. Tabb, Dieter G. Weiss, George M. Langford, Erika L.F. Holzbaur Oct 1997

The Interaction Between Cytoplasmic Dynein And Dynactin Is Required For Fast Axonal Transport, Clare M. Waterman-Storer, Sher B. Karki, Sergei A. Kunetsov, Joel S. Tabb, Dieter G. Weiss, George M. Langford, Erika L.F. Holzbaur

Biology - All Scholarship

Fast axonal transport is characterized by the bidirectional, microtubule-based movement of membranous organelles. Cytoplasmic dynein is necessary but not sufficient for retrograde transport directed from the synapse to the cell body. Dynactin is a heteromultimeric protein complex, enriched in neurons, that binds to both microtubules and cytoplasmic dynein. To determine whether dynactin is required for retrograde axonal transport, we examined the effects of anti-dynactin antibodies on organelle transport in extruded axoplasm. Treatment of axoplasm with antibodies to the p150(Glued) subunit of dynactin resulted in a significant decrease in the velocity of microtubule-based organelle transport, with many organelles bound along microtubules. …

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Amblyrhiza And The Vertebrate Paleontology Of Anguillean Caves, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Ross D. E. Macphee Jan 1993

Amblyrhiza And The Vertebrate Paleontology Of Anguillean Caves, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Ross D. E. Macphee

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Recorded interest in the caves of Anguilla dates back to the second half of the nineteenth century. The earliest explorations were concerned with the locating phosphatic cave earths, and resulted in the mining of several sites. Incidental to this work, the bones of the largest island rodent ever discovered were collected from Aguillan caves. Whereas the phosphate mining operations were short-lived, the remains of the giant rodent Amblyrhiza have catalyzed a continued interest in the caves of Anguilla. The most recent series of explorations have provided the first adequate documentation of Amhlyrhiza fossil sites, and have started to yield radiometric …

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Nitrogen And Carbon Isotope Studies Of A Bat Guano Core From Eagle Creek Cave, Arizona, Usa, Hiroshi Mizutani, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Yuko Kabaya Feb 1992

Nitrogen And Carbon Isotope Studies Of A Bat Guano Core From Eagle Creek Cave, Arizona, Usa, Hiroshi Mizutani, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Yuko Kabaya

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios were studied in a stratified deposit of guano of Mexican Free-tailed bats in Eagle Creek Cave, Arizona, U.S.A. Little diagenetic change was observed over the 25-year time span of the guano deposit. High aridity and reduced circulation of air in the cave are hypothesized to have slowed the normally rapid decomposition of the excreta and the subsequent escape of resultant ammonia. The results suggest the high dependency of the speed of diagenetic change on specific physical and other conditions of the caves and indicate that great care need be exercised in the interpretation of the …

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Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopic Signatures Of Bat Guanos As A Record Of Past Environments, Hiroshi Mizutani, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Yuko Kabaya Feb 1992

Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopic Signatures Of Bat Guanos As A Record Of Past Environments, Hiroshi Mizutani, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Yuko Kabaya

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios were measured for various ecogeochemical samples relevant to bat guano ecosystems. In particular, ca. 800-year-old subfossil guano from Jackson's Bay Cave Compex, Jamaica, yielded ratios similar to the modern guano from other Jamaican bat caves but quite different from modern guano of the same area. Diagenetic change and differences in bat food habits were unlikely explanations for the observation. Instead, insects that feed on C4 and CAM plants were the main prey for the bats in present Jackson's Bay area, while the ultimate source of organic matter for bats in other Jamaican caves and for …

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Characteristics Of The Motor Responsible For The Gliding Of Native Microtubules From Squid Axoplasm, Dieter G. Weiss, Dieter Seitz-Tutter, George M. Langford Jan 1991

Characteristics Of The Motor Responsible For The Gliding Of Native Microtubules From Squid Axoplasm, Dieter G. Weiss, Dieter Seitz-Tutter, George M. Langford

Biology - All Scholarship

Nucleotide-dependent movement of native microtubules (nMTs) in squid axoplasm has biochemical and biophysical characteristics of kinesin-driven motility. However, the high vanadate and N-ethylmaleimide sensitivity and the velocity demonstrate that the properties of the native motile system differ considerably from those of purified kinesin preparations.

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Electrophysiology, Cell Calcium, And Mechanisms Of Hepatocyte Volume Regulation, Walid E. Khalbuss Aug 1990

Electrophysiology, Cell Calcium, And Mechanisms Of Hepatocyte Volume Regulation, Walid E. Khalbuss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The electrophysiologic technique (Reuss, L., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:6014, 1985) was modified to measure changes in steady-state hepatocyte volume during osmotic stress. Hepatocytes in mouse liver slices were loaded with tetramethylammonium ion (TMA$\sp{+}$) during transient exposure of cells to nystatin. Intracellular TMA$\sp{+}$ activity (a$\sp{\rm i}\sb{\rm TMA}$) was measured with TMA$\sp{+}$-sensitive, double-barreled microelectrodes. Loading hepatocytes with TMA$\sp{+}$ did not change their membrane potential (V$\sb{\rm m}$), and under steady-state conditions a$\sp{\rm i}\sb{\rm TMA}$ remained constant over 4 min in single impalements. Hyperosmotic solutions (50, 100, & 150 mM sucrose added to media) and hyposmotic solutions (sucrose in media reduced by …

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The Effect Of Iron And Lead Inhibition, Beth Brownell May 1988

The Effect Of Iron And Lead Inhibition, Beth Brownell

Whittier Scholars Program

This project is an experiment to test the hypothesis that the amount of iron present in the body affects the biosynthetic pathway of heme in experimental animals. This study was done by monitoring the protoporphyrin IX blood levels in four mice groups: no lead in drinking water with normal iron pellet diet, no lead in drinking water with no iron pellet diet, 1mM lead in drinking water with normal iron pellet diet, and 1mM lead in drinking water with no iron pellet diet. Fluorescence spectra of diluted whole blood from lead-exposed mice with different iron levels were found to be …

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Study Of A Small Mammal Population In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Richard Cambron Aug 1986

Study Of A Small Mammal Population In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Richard Cambron

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The small mammal population of a restricted study area was live-trapped on the University farm at Western Kentucky University from November 1984 through November 1985. A total of 1800 trap-nights yielded 81 different individuals representing five species. Members of the genera Peromyscus and Microtus were the dominant individuals representing over 90% of the total. Also caught were Mus musculus and Blarina brevicauda. The members of the two major genera were examined for population size and dynamics. In addition, a statistical analysis was carried out on the randomness of the location of the home ranges. This analysis gave evidence that …

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Atp-Dependent Formation And Motility Of Aster-Like Structures With Isolated Calf Brain Microtubule Proteins., Richard C. Weisenberg, Robert D. Allen, Shinya Inoue Mar 1986

Atp-Dependent Formation And Motility Of Aster-Like Structures With Isolated Calf Brain Microtubule Proteins., Richard C. Weisenberg, Robert D. Allen, Shinya Inoue

Dartmouth Scholarship

Microtubule proteins isolated from calf brain will undergo gelation-contraction in the presence of ATP. We have now examined this process by video-enhanced contrast microscopy. After ATP addition to steady-state microtubules, slow (1-5 micron/min), linear movements of particles and microtubules toward aggregation centers occur. The resulting structures resemble mitotic spindle asters. During the time when gel contraction occurs, asters move (at 1-5 micron/min) toward other nearby asters. This is accompanied by the apparent shortening of the microtubules running between the asters. This is the first example of isolated microtubules undergoing a process that has similarities to half-spindle shortening during anaphase A. …

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Isolation Of A Collagenase Cdna Clone And Measurement Of Changing Collagenase Mrna Levels During Induction In Rabbit Synovial Fibroblasts., Robert H. Gross, Lynn A. Sheldon, Colin F. Fletcher, Constance E. Brinckerhoff Apr 1984

Isolation Of A Collagenase Cdna Clone And Measurement Of Changing Collagenase Mrna Levels During Induction In Rabbit Synovial Fibroblasts., Robert H. Gross, Lynn A. Sheldon, Colin F. Fletcher, Constance E. Brinckerhoff

Dartmouth Scholarship

To facilitate our studies on the mechanisms controlling collagenase production at a molecular level in rabbit synovial fibroblasts, we have constructed a cDNA library using mRNAs isolated from cells induced with crystals of monosodium urate monohydrate. We have screened this library with cDNA probes made from induced and control mRNA populations. From among 30 clones that hybridized preferentially to the induced-cell probe, 4 contained collagenase sequences. The largest, a clone of 650 base pairs, was identified by its ability to hybrid select a mRNA that could be translated in a cell-free system into a product that was precipitable with monospecific …

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The Cytoskeletal System Of Nucleated Erythrocytes. I. Composition And Function Of Major Elements, William D. Cohen, Diana Bartelt, Richard Jaeger, George M. Langford, Iris Nemhauser Jun 1982

The Cytoskeletal System Of Nucleated Erythrocytes. I. Composition And Function Of Major Elements, William D. Cohen, Diana Bartelt, Richard Jaeger, George M. Langford, Iris Nemhauser

Biology - All Scholarship

We have studied the dogfish erythrocyte cytoskeletal system, which consists of a marginal band of microtubules (MB) and trans-marginal band material (TBM). The TBM appeared in whole mounts as a rough irregular network and in thin sections as a surface-delimiting layer completely enclosing nucleus and MB. In cells incubated at 0 degrees C for 30 min or more, the MB disappeared but the TBM remained. MB reassembly occurred with rewarming, and was inhibited by colchicine. Flattened elliptical erythrocyte morphology was retained even when MBs were absent. Total solubilization of MB and TBM at low pH, or dissolution of whole anucleate …

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Synthesis Of Low Molecular Weight Heat Shock Peptides Stimulated By Ecdysterone In A Cultured Drosophila Cell Line., Robert C. Ireland, Edward M. Berger Feb 1982

Synthesis Of Low Molecular Weight Heat Shock Peptides Stimulated By Ecdysterone In A Cultured Drosophila Cell Line., Robert C. Ireland, Edward M. Berger

Dartmouth Scholarship

Treatment of Schneider's line 3 Drosophila cells with the steroid hormone ecdysterone rapidly stimulated the synthesis and accumulation of the polypeptide previously designated p7 [Berger, E. M., Ireland, R. C. & Wyss, C. (1980) Somatic Cell Genet. 6, 119-129]. In this report, p7 is identified as the 23,000-dalton heat shock polypeptide (hsp23). In addition to hsp23, the synthesis of the low molecular weight heat shock polypeptides hsp22, hsp26, and hsp27 was also stimulated by ecdysterone, although to different extents. Hybridization of a nick-translated genomic clone containing the hsp23 gene to a total RNA blot showed that ecdysterone stimulation of hsp23 …

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Eye Movement Related Single-Unit Recording In The Nucleus Reticularis Tegmenti Pontis In The Alert Monkey, William Franklin Crandall Jr. Jan 1981

Eye Movement Related Single-Unit Recording In The Nucleus Reticularis Tegmenti Pontis In The Alert Monkey, William Franklin Crandall Jr.

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Nucleus Reticularis Tegmenti Pontis (NRTP) is a structure which lies in the mid-brain ventral to the oculomotor complex. Anatomical studies strongly implicate it in oculomotor function as most of its inputs and outputs are to systems previously shown to be intimately involved in eye movement generation--superior colliculus (SC) and cerebellum. These reports show an integrative structure with inputs and outputs distributed in a way well suited for performing relay and feedback tasks. Physiological data in the alert, trained monkey has been gathered in an attempt to characterize these neurons and to classify them in functional terms. Three monkeys were trained …

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Arrangement Of Subunits In Microtubules With 14 Profilaments, George M. Langford Nov 1980

Arrangement Of Subunits In Microtubules With 14 Profilaments, George M. Langford

Biology - All Scholarship

The structure of 14-protofilament microtubules reassembled from dogfish shark brain tubulin was analyzed by high resolution electron microscopy and optical diffraction. The simultaneous imaging of the protofilaments from near and far sides of these tubules produces a moiré pattern with a period of approximately 96 nm. Optical diffraction patterns show that the 5-nm spots that arise from the protofilaments for the two sides of the tubule are not coincident but lie off the equator by a distance of 1/192 nm-1. These data provide evidence that in reassembled microtubules containing 14 protofilaments, the protofilaments are tilted 1.5 degrees with respect to …

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Motility Of The Microtubular Axostyle In Pyrsonympha, George M. Langford, Shinya Inoué Mar 1979

Motility Of The Microtubular Axostyle In Pyrsonympha, George M. Langford, Shinya Inoué

Biology - All Scholarship

The rhythmic movement of the microtubular axostyle in the termite flagellate, Pyrsonympha vertens, was analyzed with polarization and electron microscopy. The protozoan axostyle is birefringent as a result of the semi-crystalline alignment of approximately 2,000 microtubules. The birefringence of the organelle permits analysis of the beat pattern in vivo. Modifications of the beat pattern were achieved with visible and UV microbeam irradiation. The beating axostyle is helically twisted and has two principal movements, one resembling ciliary and the other flagellar beating. The anterior portion of the beating axostyle has effective and recovery phases with each beat thereby simulating the flexural …

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Bulletin No. 23: Plants And Animals Of The Estuary, William A. Niering, Paul E. Fell, Sally L. Taylor, Martine Villalard-Bohnsack, Nancy C. Olmstead Jun 1978

Bulletin No. 23: Plants And Animals Of The Estuary, William A. Niering, Paul E. Fell, Sally L. Taylor, Martine Villalard-Bohnsack, Nancy C. Olmstead

Bulletins

Descriptions and illustrations of over 70 estuarine species.

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Induced Changes In The Rates Of Uridine-3H Uptake And Incorporation During The G1 And S Periods Of Synchronized Chinese Hamster Cells, Peter J. Stambrook, Jesse E. Sisken Mar 1972

Induced Changes In The Rates Of Uridine-3H Uptake And Incorporation During The G1 And S Periods Of Synchronized Chinese Hamster Cells, Peter J. Stambrook, Jesse E. Sisken

Biology Faculty Publications

The rates of uridine-5-3H incorporation into RNA and the rates of uridine uptake into the acid-soluble pool during the cell cycle of V79 Chinese hamster cells were examined. Cells cultured on Eagle's minimal essential medium supplemented with fetal calf serum, lactalbumin hydrolysate, glutamine, and trypsin displayed rates of incorporation and uptake which increased only slightly during G1 and accelerated sharply as DNA synthesis commenced. In contrast, cells cultured on minimal essential medium supplemented only with calf serum exhibited rates of incorporation and uptake which increased linearly through both G1 and S. The transition from one pattern …

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Mammalian Distribution Within Biotic Communities Of Northeastern Jewell County, Kansas, Kenneth W. Andersen, Eugene D. Fleharty Jan 1967

Mammalian Distribution Within Biotic Communities Of Northeastern Jewell County, Kansas, Kenneth W. Andersen, Eugene D. Fleharty

Fort Hays Studies Series

The purpose of this investigation was threefold. First, to obtain as complete a list as possible of mammals occuring in the area through collecting and observational procedures. Second, to determine their specific distribution within the study area, and third, to correlate and elucidate the relationships between their distribution and the major vegetational regions within the study area.

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Distribution Of Native Mammals Among The Communities Of The Mixed Prairie, Edwin Perry Martin Jan 1960

Distribution Of Native Mammals Among The Communities Of The Mixed Prairie, Edwin Perry Martin

Fort Hays Studies Series

From October, 1952, until August, 1958, the small mammals on a relict area near Hays, Kansas, were studied. The observations were undertaken to establish a standard to which the mammals of variously disturbed areas could be compared; also, information concerning the relations of the species of mammals to the communities of the mixed prairie was sought.

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A Study Of Intersexuality As Exhibited In Animal Forms, Ida V. Jaggard May 1931

A Study Of Intersexuality As Exhibited In Animal Forms, Ida V. Jaggard

Biology Honors Papers

This 21 page thesis discusses the entire scope of animal intersexuality with examples illustrating certain types of intersexuality. Much of the thesis is based on the works of F. A. E. Crew and Alexander Lipschutz.

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