Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Morphological, Genetic, And Environmental Characterization Of An Unusual Population Of Isoetes (Isoetaceae, Lycopodiophyta), Shannon L. Walker

Honors Theses

A large and unusual population of Isoetes (Isoetaceae, Lycopodiophyta) in the DeSoto National Forest, Wayne County, Mississippi, was studied to determine if the individuals there represent a new species or if they represent part of the variation of the one primary species of the longleaf pine belt of Mississippi, Isoetes louisianensis, which it most closely resembles. The unusual population and specimens of known Isoetes louisianensis were examined comparatively based on morphology, megaspore ornamentation, examination of habitat characteristics, and phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence data from the nuclear internal transcribed spacer 1 and 2 (ITS) and the 5.8S ribosomal gene. No …

Effects Of Temperature Gradient, Substrate Composition, And Canopy Cover On The Spatial Distribution Of Topminnow Species: Fundulus Notatus And Fundulus Olivaceus, Austin M. King

Honors Theses

Hybrid zones are locations where two interbreeding species coexist and hybridize. The spatial distribution of ecologically similar species is of primary interest in understanding the formation and stability of hybrid zones. These hybrid zones are of significance as they allow for insight into how speciation occurs naturally within the environment. A variety of factors may play a role in determining the spatial distributions of species within hybrid zones. Examples of these factors include variations in temperature gradients, substrate composition, and changes in canopy cover. Fundulus olivaceus and Fundulus notatus are generally found within upstream and downstream habitats respectfully. These habitats …

Phylogenetic Relationships Of The Genera Of Achariaceae Based On Analyses Of Morphological And Dna Data, Corey L. Pagart

Honors Theses

Achariaceae are a mostly tropical family of flowering plants consisting of about 29 genera and 150 species of trees and shrubs. Although they are closely related to passionflowers (Passifloraceae), violets (Violaceae), and willows and cottonwoods (Salicaceae), phylogenetic relationships of the genera remain unclear because the only studies have been focused on particular genera or had limited sampling. Few studies of the family in general have been conducted, except for some on species that produce chaulmoogra oil, a commonly used historical treatment for leprosy. For my study, I investigated the relationships of the genera within the family using morphological and molecular …

One Signal, Two Behaviors: Odor Discrimination In Unmated Versus Mated Female Green Bottle Flies, Lucilia Sericata, George Iannantuono

Honors Theses

The green bottle fly, Lucilia sericata, is of critical importance in the field of forensic entomology since it is one of the first insects to arrive at a freshly deceased carcass. These flies use a highly tuned and selective olfactory system to identify and locate the carcass; response to the decomposition odor usually occurs within minutes. Male flies use the carcass for a small protein meal and for locating females while females use the carcass for feeding (unmated) and egg-laying (mated). This divergence in behavior to a common odor cue is the subject of this thesis proposal: do unmated …

Biodiversity, Ecosystem Function And The Pollination Ecology Of Urban Gardens In Dayton, Ohio, Angela Nicole Giaquinto

Honors Theses

Urban agriculture is an ancient concept that is gaining momentum in the United States in connection with urban renewal projects and efforts to mediate urban food deserts. These agriculture efforts represent a potential habitat for pollinator communities within the urban hardscape. Pollinator communities are threatened by urban landscape transformation, and bee species, in particular, are in a state of global decline due to various stressors. Urban agriculture has the potential to sustain both human and ecological communities, and the pollinators that visit gardens may provide pollination to plant species in the surrounding area. We investigated the influence of urban land …

The Effect Of Cyanobacterium Gloeotrichia Echinulata In The Belgrade Lakes, Maine, Harriet T. Rothschild

Honors Theses

Gloeotrichia echinulata is a cyanobacteria species that has been increasingly forming blooms in oligotrophic lakes in the Northeastern United States. The Belgrade Lakes in central Maine have experienced increasing blooms over the past decades. Long Pond and Great Pond in the Belgrade Lakes region are popular locations for summer tourism and year-round residents. Research into G. echinulata is important to the Belgrade community because of potential effects to water quality, public health, and recreation. Studying G. echinulata bloom density throughout the summer and how it may affect the phosphorous cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and the plankton community will help scientists …

Environmental Contingency Of Seed-Fungi Interactions In Coexisting Invasive Purple Loosestrife And Native Cattail, Shayla R. Williams

Honors Theses

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is a highly invasive species able to quickly take over entire wetlands, especially after disturbances. Bountiful seed production and a persistent and prolific seed bank play a key role in loosestrife’s ability to invade. However, some competing native species, such as cattails (Typha spp.) have comparable seed production rates but less abundant seed banks, suggesting that there may be a difference in belowground seed survival. I investigated the abundance of loosestrife and cattail seeds in soils at roadside sites relative to above-ground stem densities. Given the importance of fungal pathogens to seed …

The Evolution Of Body Size In The Order Siluriformes, D Cooper Campbell

Honors Theses

The evolution of body size has long been a topic of interest to biologists due to the close link between size and various aspects of an organism’s biology. Adult body size is influenced by the underlying tradeoff in energy allocation between maintenance, somatic growth and reproduction. I studied the evolution of a large group of globally distributed (primarily freshwater with some marine forms) fishes to test some basic hypotheses about the evolution of adult body size. Catfish (Siluriformes) are an excellent group for this type of research as they represent approximately 11% of fishes and species range in size from …

School Gardens: Cultivating A Child’S Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, And Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer

Honors Theses

School gardens have existed since the late nineteenth century and today are becoming increasingly popular in many parts of the world, including where I studied in Maine and Australia (AUS). Multiple organizations support school gardens in Maine, including the Maine School Garden Network, which has over 125 registered school gardens. In AUS, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation primarily supports the school garden movement and has over 800 registered school gardens. While many researchers have studied school gardens, few have compared two countries, focused on environmental sustainability, or investigated Maine in particular. This thesis combines information from literature reviews, and …

The Debate On Marine Mammals In Captivity, Lorna C. Scribner

Honors Theses

Are marine mammal species better off today because of captivity? Is captivity ethical and should it be continued? As this debate grows stronger, both of these sides of the argument offer substantial evidence in their favor. In this paper, I discuss data for both sides and evaluate the justifications of marine mammal captivity. Ideally, no matter the outcome, this research will educate the public on influential factors of wild and captive populations.

Do Male Physiological Condition And Territory Quality Affect Female Choice In The Brown Anole, Anolis Sagrei?, Sarah P. Flanagan

Honors Theses

Female mate choice is an important component of sexual selection because traits that influence male mate preference, such as physiology, and proficiency in acquiring resources, are favored. In lizards, the importance of mate choice remains unclear as reported results from experiments are contradictory. In this study, I investigated whether male physiology and territory quality are important to female mate choice for male Brown Anoles, Anolis sagrei. I tested the hypotheses that female A. sagrei prefer males with greater physiological capacities, and prefer higher quality territories, regardless of male phenotype. To test these, male A. sagrei were first rated for …

Buffernomics: Assessing Willingness To Pay For Lake Conservation On North Pond And East Pond, Sophie D. Sarkar

Honors Theses

Hedonic property valuations in Maine have estimated that a one-meter decrease in water clarity can reduce shoreline property values by 4 to 16%. To avoid a loss on their lakefront investment, shoreline property owners have a particularly large incentive to conserve lake water quality. Nevertheless, while some shoreline residents voluntarily install vegetated buffers and actively participate in lake stewardship, others continue to ignore shoreline zoning laws at the expense of lake health. In this thesis, I examine the dichotomy of active and indifferent shoreline residents by analyzing the motivations that distinguish residents who are willing to pay (WTP) for and …

Zooplankton Of The Belgrade Lakes: The Influence Of Top-Down And Bottom-Up Forces In Family Abundance, Kimberly M. Bittler

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the abundance and family diversity of zooplankton communities in the Belgrade Lakes, and to identify the broad scale and local variables that structure zooplankton communities in this region. The local effects of shoreline development and the presence of macrophyte patches were compared to larger scale variables, such as watershed wide residential development. Zooplankton are an intermediate link in the freshwater food web, and communities respond both to predation pressures as well as nutrient inputs. Shoreline development was expected to influence zooplankton densities by the increased nutrient inputs via erosion off developed sites …

Biomass Energy At Colby College, Rachel E. Baron

Honors Theses

In light of growing concern regarding the effects of global climate change, Colby College signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in 2008. Through this pledge, Colby has committed to reducing carbon emissions in its Climate Action Plan (IPCC 2007; CCAP 2010). The College seeks to be carbon neutral by 2015 (CCAP 2010). This will be accomplished through a variety of mechanisms, one of which includes the construction of a biomass facility to replace most of the oil currently used for heating (CCAP 2010).

Anthropogenic global climate change has been documented by many scientists, but was widely …

The One That Carries You Away: Essays, Blair S. Braverman

Honors Theses

What is environmental writing? Phil Condon, author and professor at the University of Montana's Environmental Writing Institute, defines it as any piece of writing in which an important factor is nonhuman—be it animal, place, weather, et cetera. At the same time, he acknowledges that the primary limitation of this definition is its lack of limitations; because humans are constantly interacting with—and affected by—the nonhuman, virtually any piece of writing could be considered environmental. The Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE), the nation's predominant organization for the academic study of environmental writing, defines itself through its focus …

Assessing Genetic Differentiation Among Populations Of The Invasive Plant Impatiens Glandulifera In Maine, Jordan R. Schoonover

Honors Theses

The annual herbaceous plant Impatiens glandulifera Royle is native to the Himalayas and is a significant invasive species in Europe. In the past century, it was introduced to the United States, where it has become established in 12 states. This study evaluated genetic differentiation among four Maine populations, to address a theory that posits hybridization of distinct lineages as a trigger for invasiveness. Regions of microsatellite repeats were evaluated at two polymorphic loci for 41 plants sampled from the four populations. A striking finding was that the observed heterozygosity was substantially higher than the heterozygosity expected from random combination of …

Comparing Sulfur Transformations In Surface Soils Of Chattanooga Wetlands With Different Land Use Histories, Michael Mentz

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess whether high sulfur inputs in a local wetland had an effect on the functions of this wetland, i.e. an increased sulfate reduction rate and an increased sulfate concentration compared to a control wetland. Sulfate reduction rates were compared in two wetlands in Chattanooga, Tennessee during July and December 2007.These wetlands were known to have bad different histories of sulfur input via sulfates in precipitation or runoff.Through use of a 35S tracer technique, overall sulfate reduction rates could be compared for the two wetlands.Replicated sediment cores were collected from each wetland on the …

The Pollination Biology And Mating System Of A Peripheral Population Of Witheringia Solanacea (Solanaceae), Timothy Miller

Honors Theses

Pollinator visitation rates over the life of a flower are determined by pollinator abundance and floral longevity. If flowers are not visited frequently enough, pollen limitation may occur, favoring the evolution of self-compatibility (SC). In plant species with varying SC levels, central populations often are self-incompatible (SI) and peripheral populations are SC. Witheringia solanacea (Solanaceae) is a species that follows this trend with the exception of one population in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, which is peripheral yet SI. I investigated this population using multiple techniques including floral bagging, pollinator observations, microsatellite analysis, and floral longevity manipulations. My results confirmed …

Macrofungi Of The Tennessee River Gorge, William D. Starrett

Honors Theses

Representative macro fungi of the Tennessee River Gorge were collected on the Tennessee River Gorge Trust (TRGT) property during 18 forays I conducted fom May to November 2004. This dramatically added to the baseline data on the macrofungi of the TRGT by adding 15 orders, 34 families, and 138 species to the existing list. These data were recorded in the herbarium of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga database. I converted the University's File Maker Pro fungi database into Microsoft Excel and Access, which allows it to be processed for introduction into the National Biological Information Infrastructure and onto the …

Determination Of Baseline Microbial Biomass Of Tennessee River Gorge Surface Soils Through Chloroform Fumigation And Potassium Sulfate Extraction, Jill Burdette

Honors Theses

Levels of microbial biomass were determined for the A and B-horizons of four plots from the Tennessee River Gorge (TNG), establishing a baseline for future studies. The soils were divided into control and fumigated samples. The fumigated soils were flooded with chloroform, and the carbon was extracted from the control and fumigated soils and quantified through a reflux reaction and subsequent titration with ferrous ammonium sulfate. The extractable carbon was then used to determine the amount of biomass in the soil. The extractable carbon ranged from 62-90% higher in the A-horizon than B-horizon soils with the percent biomass from both …

The Effects Of Enrichment Treatments On Jaguar Behavior At The Warner Park Zoo, Miranda Cagle

Honors Theses

Not long ago, Sasha walked onto grass for the first time in seven years. For Pasha, it was the first in six. The two jaguar inhabitants of the Warner Park Zoo, Sasha, a nine-year-old female, and Pasha, her eight-year-old half-brother, were transferred to a new enclosure on 12 November 1995. Prior to that date, they had been housed in a smaller cage with a cement floor. The new enclosure was a long-awaited improvement for the zoo, designed to house two of its most wellknown animals. It was expected that the new enclosure would promote more natural behavior in the two …

Feeding Habits Of Juvenile Largemouth Bass Micropterus Salmoides (Lacepede), Thomas R. Goodwill

Honors Theses

The stomachs of 110 juvenile largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepede) were examined to learn the early feeding habits of bass in a brackish environment. Bass were found to have five primary food sources: Taphromysis bowmani, Cloeon sp., Gammarus mucronatus, Micropterus salmoides, and Lepidophthalmus louisianum. Three feeding trends were observed during the course of the study. First, bass seemed to display prey selection. Second, bass length increased as prey size increased. Third, the types of prey eaten by the bass changed as the bass increased in size.