Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Optimal R&D Investment In The Management Of Invasive Species, William Haden Chomphosy, Dale T. Manning, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Stephan Weiler

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive alien species (IAS) threaten world biodiversity, ecosystem services, and economic welfare. While existing literature has characterized the optimal control of an established IAS, it has not considered how research and development (R&D) into new removal methods or technologies can affect management decisions and costs over time. R&D can lower the costs of control in a management plan and creates an intertemporal trade-off between quick but costly control and gradual but cheaper removal over time. In this paper, we develop and solve a continuous time dynamic optimization model to study how investment in R&D influences the optimal control of an …

Ecological, Evolutionary, And Temporal Dynamics Of Animal Mortality Events, Simon Patrick Tye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Global declines of animal abundances are emblematic of the Anthropocene. Recent animal declines have increasingly involved more frequent and intense die-offs within populations, or mass mortality events (MMEs). These extreme demographic events can lead to rapid changes in biological communities, either by imperiling the affected population or influencing populations remaining within communities. To date, there is still limited information about the effects of predator MMEs on immediate ecological dynamics within communities and rapid evolutionary dynamics within remaining populations that may ensue. Moreover, few approaches exist to predict future occurrences of predator MMEs across broad spatial scales. To address these gaps, …

An Ecological Perspective Of American Rodent-Borne Orthohantavirus Surveillance, Nathaniel Mull

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orthohantaviruses are a global group of viruses found primarily in rodents, though several viruses have also been found in shrews and moles. Many rodent-borne orthohantaviruses are capable of causing one of several diseases in humans, and the mortality associated with these diseases ranges from < 0.1% - 50% depending on the specific etiological virus. In North and South America, orthohantavirus research was ignited by an outbreak of severe disease in the Four Corners region of the United States in 1993. However, despite the discovery of over 20 orthohantaviruses in the Americas, our understanding of orthohantavirus ecology and virus-host dynamics in this region is still limited, and orthohantavirus surveillance is generally restricted in scope to select regions and small portions of host distributional ranges. In Chapter I, I present a literature review on the current understanding of American rodent-borne orthohantavirus ecology. This review focused on under-studied orthohantaviruses, addressing gaps in knowledge by extrapolating information from well-studied orthohantaviruses, general rodent ecology, and occassionally from Eurasian orthohantavirus-host ecology. There were several key conclusions generated from this review that warrant further research: 1) the large number of putative orthohantaviruses and gaps in orthohantavirus evolution necessitate further surveillance and characterization, 2) orthohantavirus traits differ and are more generalizable based on host taxonomy rather than geography, and 3) orthohantavirus host species are disproportionately found in grasslands and disturbed habitats. In Chapter II, I present a prioritized list of rodent species to target for orthohantavirus surveillance based on predictive modeling using machine learning. Probable orthohantavirus hosts were predicted based on traits of known orthohantavirus hosts using two different types of evidence: RT-PCR and virus isolation. Predicted host distributions were also mapped to identify geographic hotspots to spatially guide future surveillance efforts. In Chapter III, I present a framework for understanding and predicting orthohantavirus traits based on reservoir host phylogeny, as opposed to the traditional geographic dichotomy used to group orthohantaviruses. This framework establishes three distinct orthohantavirus groups: murid-borne orthohantaviruses, arvicoline-borne orthohantaviruses, and non-arvicoline cricetid-borne orthohantaviruses, which differ in several key traits, including the human disease they cause, transmission routes, and virus-host fidelity. In Chapter IV, I compare rodent communities and orthohantavirus prevalence among grassland management regimes. Sites that were periodically burned had high rodent diversity and a high proportion of grassland species. However, rodent seroprevalence for orthohantavirus was also highest in burned sites, representing a trade-off in habitat management outcomes. The high seroprevalence in burned sites is likely due to the robust populations supported by the high quality habitat resulting from prescribed burning. In Chapters V and VI, I describe Ozark virus and Sager Creek virus, two novel orthohantaviruses discovered from specimens collected during Chapter IV. Both chapters report full genome sequences of the respective viruses and compare both nucleotide and protein phylogenies with related orthohantaviruses. Additionally in Chapter VI, I support the genetic analyses with molecular and ecological characterizations, including seasonal fluctuations in host abundance, correlates of prevalence, evidence of virus shedding, and information on host cell susceptibility to Sager Creek virus.

Factors That Affect Home Range Of Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus) In Northwest Arkansas, Bannon Gallaher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Conservation of animal populations requires knowledge of their habitat and spatial needs. Quantifying spatial requirements involves the analysis of home range. We examined the effects of sex, body size (SVL), body condition (log mass/log SVL), and year on home range in Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) in Northwest Arkansas. Individual locality data from an ongoing, 22+ year radio-telemetry study in Madison Co., Arkansas were analyzed using both minimum convex polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimates (KDE). Plots of the number of sequential observations versus home range (MCP and KDE) determined that a minimum of 25 locations per individual per active season …

Effects Of Landscape And Yard Features On Mammals In Residential Yards In Northwest Arkansas, Emily Johansson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The human footprint is rapidly expanding, and wildlife habitat is continuously being converted to human residential properties. Most wildlife residing in developing areas are displaced to nearby undeveloped areas. However, some animals can coexist with humans and acquire the necessary resources (food, water, shelter) within the human environment. This may be particularly true when development is low intensity, as in suburban yards. Due to the wide variety in how homeowners utilize their yards, they can be considered individually managed “greenspaces.” These yards can provide a range of food (e.g., bird feeders, compost, gardens), water (bird baths and garden ponds), and …

Ecology, Evolution, And Gene Transfer Between Diatoms And Bacteria, Cory B. Gargas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although photosynthetic macro-eukaryotes (i.e., plants) make up the majority of organic biomass on earth, bacteria are the second largest taxonomic group, by biomass. Bacteria are ubiquitous in our environment, living on, and within, man-made surfaces, natural environments, and eukaryotes themselves. The relationship between bacteria and eukaryotes has existed from the very beginning of eukaryotic life in the form of bacterial endosymbioses that resulted in mitochondria and plastids. Other eukaryote–bacteria relationships have evolved since then, ranging from the beneficial (e.g., mutualistic) to harmful (e.g., parasitic or pathogenic). Understanding these eukaryote–bacteria relationships is key to understanding both the evolution of important ecosystem …

It’S Free Real Estate: Benthic Assemblage Composition On Bluehead Chub Nests In Southeastern Streams, Isabel Evelyn

All Theses

Positive interactions such as facilitative habitat modification are often strong drivers in structuring communities. The Bluehead Chub (Nocomis leptocephalus) is a common fish in Piedmont streams of the southeastern USA that builds gravel mound spawning nests that other native fish species utilize as critical spawning substrate. These nests are colonized by other freshwater benthic organisms, though few studies have investigated these colonizing assemblages. The goal of this study was to quantify differences in benthic assemblage composition and abundance between Bluehead Chub nests and unmodified streambed substrate as well as relative taxa microhabitat associations in relation to stream reach-wide …

An Investigation Into The Origin And Molecular Mechanism Of Species-Specific Craniofacial Sexual Dimorphism In Lake Malawi Cichlids, Ashleigh Brandon

All Theses

Explaining the underlying source that generates the phenotypic diversity ubiquitous in nature has been a major goal of biologists since the time of Darwin. In addition to the phenotypic variation that exists between different species, another potent source of morphological diversity is found within a species, in the form of phenotypic differences that are specific to males and females, termed sexual dimorphism. The largest craniofacial bone, the mandible, exhibits such extreme sexual dimorphism that it may be used to forensically determine sex. This dimorphism occurs in most of the craniofacial complex and contributes to sex-biased disease frequencies, such as a …

Hibernating Tricolored Bats At A Southeastern Recreation Site: Microsite Use And Public Perceptions, Rebecca Brown

All Theses

High bat mortality from white-nose syndrome (WNS) has increased the need to manage hibernation sites. Management decisions should be based on science, and when sites are accessible to the public, also need to consider human dimensions. We used Stumphouse Tunnel, a recreation site and tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) hibernaculum in northwestern South Carolina, as a case study to understand potential conflicts between conservation and recreation. The population declined by 90% after the arrival of white-nose syndrome (WNS), followed by stabilization and slight increases. Because the increase was associated with more bats roosting in the publicly accessible section, a potential …

Immediate Response Of Bats To Prescribed Fire And Impact Of Experiences On Women's Self-Image In Natural Resources Professions, Zebria Hicks

All Theses

To inform use of prescribed fire management practice in the southeastern US, we studied its impact on bats, which are important and at-risk species. We evaluated if prescribed fire had a positive, neutral, or negative effect on bat activity in the two weeks following the burns. We recorded bat activity after prescribed burns in February and March 2022 in northwestern South Carolina in select hardwood and pine stands and control sites ≥ 500 m from burn boundaries. We measured insect abundance, canopy cover, basal area, and understory density at each site. We recorded 687 passes during our 45-day study period. …

Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt

All Theses

Bartram’s Bass are an endemic to the Upper Savannah River basin in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Bartram’s Bass are facing many risks, primary among them being hybridization with nonnative Alabama Bass. More recently, nonnative Alabama Bass and their hybrid congeners have been observed moving from reservoirs into tributaries where the remaining Bartram’s Bass populations exist. Thus, for Chapter 1 we sought to better understand the threat of nonnative gene spreading in tributary systems. To do this, we 1) quantified the movement of pure Alabama Bass, Bartram’s Bass, and their hybrids, 2) assessed correlations between movement and abiotic variables, …

New Species, Synonymies And Transfers In Neotropical Lamiinae (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Larry G. Bezark, Antonio Santos-Silva

Insecta Mundi

Four new species and one new genus of Lamiinae (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) are described: Nyssodrysilla humeralis new species (Acanthocinini), from Paraguay; Atrypanius schmidi new species (Acan­thocinini), from Paraguay; Chicanatonus hovorei, new genus, new species (Acanthocinini), from Mexico; Euryestola transversa new species (Calliini), from Ecuador. The following new combinations are established: Leiopus convexus Melzer, 1934 is transferred to Hyperplatys Haldeman, 1847; Leiopus floccidus Erichson, 1847 is transferred to Anisopodus White, 1855; Leiopus marcelamonneae Audureau and Demez, 2015 and L. pleuriticus White, 1855 are transferred to Atrypanius Bates, 1864. Leiopus histrionicus Gistel, 1848 is newly synonymized with Eutrypanus dorsalis (Germar, 1823). …

Who To Host: Competition Interactions Between Parasitoid Wasp Species, Jailah Henderson, Becky Hansis-O’Neill

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The availability of resources plays an important role in the survival and fitness of all organisms, one's ability to find and utilize resources can impact interactions between them and their environments. The interaction between organisms for resources can lead to interspecific competition, amongst two different species, or intraspecific competition, amongst the same species. In an experiment to test for competitive interactions between the parasitoid wasp species of N. vitripennis and M. digitata that utilize a fresh fly papua as their host to aid in the reproduction of their offspring. Over a period of time testing for conditions of interspecific and …

Herpetofauna And Tarantula Avoidance: A Missouri Glades Location Survey, Zach Pfeiffer, Becky Hansis-O'Neill, Aimee Dunlap Dr

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Missouri glades are home to a variety of herpetofauna and one species of tarantula: Aphonopelma hentzi (Texas brown tarantula). These animals traverse through their environment very differently. Herpetofauna tend to travel in search of food, while tarantulas are usually restricted to foraging in areas very close to their burrows. Due to this contrast, and because of potential predator-prey relationships, I wanted to see if there was a pattern in the distances between these two groupings. To do this I conducted a location survey to determine how far each individual was from the nearest spider. After analyzing the data, it was …

Extracting And Analyzing Body Pitch Frequency To Test For Mimetic Convergence In Ithomiine Butterflies, Lauren Kim, Angela Robles, Victoria Valenzuela

Pacific Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference (PURCC)

No abstract provided.

Phylogenetic Analysis Of Kdr Mutation Conferring Insecticide Resistance In Culex Tarsalis, Eileen Xue, Darren Zhan, Lena Tang

Pacific Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference (PURCC)

No abstract provided.

Sensing Is A Far Cry From Sentience, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio

Animal Sentience

The hypothesis that plants might be sentient confuses the notion of sentience (or consciousness) with that of sensing. Sentience/consciousness implies feeling, experience, and subjectivity. Sensing does not. Plants can sense/detect and even respond appropriately in the absence of any sentience/consciousness.

Riodinid Butterfly Fauna (Lepidoptera) Of The Cosñipata Region, Peru: Annotated Checklist, Community Structure, And Contrast With Lycaenidae, Gerardo Lamas, Jon D. Turner, Michael L. Mcinnis, Robert K. Robbins

Insecta Mundi

A team of experienced lepidopterists sampled the butterfly fauna of Peru’s Cosñipata Region from 400 to 4,000 m elevation for more than a decade (7,440 field person-hours) and supplemented this sam­ple with data from museum specimens and the scientific literature. An annotated checklist of Cosñipata Riodinidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) documents 398 species, which represents 29% of the world Rio­dinidae fauna. For each, it lists sample abundance, adult behavior, elevation, and temporal distribution. In the fieldwork sample, 75 species (20.9%) were sampled once and 39 (9.8%) were not encountered (collected or imaged by others). A riodinid species of median abundance was sampled …

Evaluation Of North American Spider Wasp (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) Common Names, Frank E. Kurczewski, Rick C. West

Insecta Mundi

The use of common names for species and subspecies of North American spider wasps (Hymenop­tera: Pompilidae) presents a variety of questions for pompilid specialists as most pompilid taxa are difficult to identify, even under the microscope. Some common names currently being used for spider wasp species are acceptable while others are misleading, unfit and unacceptable. Opinions on the relative value of common names for spider wasps from current Pompilidae researchers are given in the Introduction. Eleven inappro­priate common names for North American Pompilidae species and subspecies are identified and discussed in the Results.

The use of common names for fish, …

A New Synonym Of Acmaeodera Opacula Leconte, 1858 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) And Lectotype Designations For Acmaeodera Amabilis Horn, 1878 And, Jason A. Hansen, Richard L. Westcott

Insecta Mundi

Lectotypes are designated for Acmaeodera amabilis Horn, 1878 and Acmaeodera disjuncta Fall, 1899 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). The defining characters of Acmaeodera opacula LeConte, 1858 are compared with those of A. disjuncta Fall, 1899, as well as habitat and host plant. Acmaeodera disjuncta is synonymized with A. opacula. The distinguishing characters of congeners whose general appearance at times can resemble A. opacula are discussed, and a new state record for Mexico is provided for A. opacula.

Acmaeodera Eschscholtz, 1829 is a large and taxonomically difficult genus. For example, there are over 300 spe­cies known from the United States …

Taxonomic Notes On The Ototretinae, Photurinae, And Psilocladinae (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), Oliver Keller, Kevin R. Hinson

Insecta Mundi

We propose several nomenclatural changes for taxa in the lampyrid subfamilies Ototretinae, Pho­turinae, and Psilocladinae (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). Evidence for the correct year of description of Drilaster albicornis lateobscura (Pic, 1921) is presented. Spellings are corrected for Drilaster debilis holzi (Pic, 1914), Drilaster impustulata fukienensis (Pic, 1955), Drilaster moutoni (Pic, 1911), Drilaster pendleburyi (Pic, 1943) and Pyrogaster lunifera (Eschscholtz, 1822). We also explain the validity of the name Photuris flavicollis Fall, 1927. Fifty-eight taxa described as variations or aberrations in the subfamilies Ototretinae, Photurinae, and Psilocladinae by Delkeskamp (1977), McDermott (1966), Wittmer (1944), and Pic (1924c), are evaluated, with their availability …

Bryophytes Of Goochland County, Virginia, Mikayla Quinn

Honors Theses

Bryophytes are non-vascular land plants that include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. Although easier to overlook because of their smaller size, bryophytes are a fundamental part of the ecosystem. As such, maintaining record of their biodiversity is important. Yet, records of bryophyte species in Goochland County, VA were low compared to more thoroughly documented counties such as Prince Edward County. This study expands the documentation of bryophyte flora and presents a checklist of bryophyte species found Virginia’s Goochland County from 2020-2023. Fieldwork conducted at public and privately-owned properties throughout the county between January 2020 and March 2023 yielded 702 specimens that …

Plant Sentience: The Burden Of Proof, Jon Mallatt, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz

Animal Sentience

Segundo-Ortin & Calvo’s (2023) target article takes a less speculative and more evidence-based approach to plant sentience than did previous works promoting that idea. However, it retains many of the idea’s longstanding difficulties such as starting from a false dichotomy (plants must be either hardwired or sentient), not accepting the full burden of proof for an extraordinary claim, confusingly redefining accepted cognitive terms, implying cell consciousness, not adopting the most parsimonious explanations for plant behaviors, and downplaying all the counterevidence. We advise rectifying these problems before plant sentience can become a full-fledged scientific domain.

A Preliminary Report On Non-Insect Arthropods (Arachnida, Diplopoda) At Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, G. B. Edwards, Karen Relish

Insecta Mundi

Use of a combination of a novel pitfall trap setup and Lindgren funnel traps at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park resulted in the collection of few specimens due to a higher than normal ground water level. Despite this, some unusual specimens of Arachnida and Diplopoda were found, including the second known record of Mysmena incredula Gertsch and Davis, 1936 (Araneae: Mysmenidae) in Florida.

Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (FSPSP) is an 80,000+ acre preserve approximately 20 miles long by 5 miles wide in Collier County, Florida, receiving on average about 60 inches (1524 mm) of rain per year during May …

Analysis Of Wild Rodent Gut Microbiota As A Function Of Exposure To Ticks And Tick-Borne Pathogens, Joshua Pandian

Honors Theses

Due to advances in high-throughput parallel sequencing, researchers have conducted novel studies exploring relationships between microbiome compositions and different aspects of organism health. Some of these studies have shown that the gut microbiome of rodent models has effects on organism health and behavior and that infection with pathogens and the composition of the skin microbiome are linked to changes in gut microbiome composition. While previous studies have shown how vector microbiota impact vector behavior and pathogen transmission, the effect vectors have on reservoir species microbiomes has been a less prominent focus. We were interested in the relationships between tick parasitism, …

Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibius) Aggressive Behaviors In The Retima Hippo Pool, Orangi River, Tanzania, Lydia Hoffman, Connor Veldman

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius) are known to forage on land during the night and spend the daytime in shallow pools to thermoregulate and to protect their skin from UV radiation. Daily use of pools may lead to competition for space and facilitate aggressive interactions between hippopotamuses. In this study, we looked at the difference in occurrence of aggressive behavior in the morning and evening hours between hippopotamuses (hippos). Our hypothesis was that hippos will be more aggressive at different times of the day, and we predicted that the higher aggressive activity will be in the morning hours, as hippos …

The Effect Of Light Availability On Planktonic Communities Under The Ice In Stumpf Lake, Samantha Schug

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Ice cover is a part of the yearly cycle in bodies of water that are exposed to temperatures below the freezing point. Though the body of water is completely covered, many communities under the ice are still present and active during this time. I hypothesized that as the area cleared of snow increased, the increased light availability under the ice will cause a decrease in zooplankton abundance, as they avoid light and increase the chlorophyll concentration. Three different light availabilities were imposed on the ice by clearing three different sized areas of snow on the ice (0m, 1m and 2m). …

A New State Record Of Eucera (Xenoglossa) Kansensis (Hymenoptera: Apidae) In South Dakota, Usa, Louis S. Hesler, Eric A. Beckendorf, Abigail P. Martens, Paul J. Johnson

Insecta Mundi

Eucera (Xenoglossa) kansensis (Cockerell, 1905) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is newly recorded for the state of South Dakota, USA. The bees were sampled predominantly with blue vane traps, and E. kansensis was associated with a wide range of habitats that did not include its primary floral resources of Cucurbita L. and Ipomoea L. Further study is warranted to determine the basis for the association of E. kansensis within the wide range of habitats in this study.

The longhorn bee tribe Eucerini (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is a widespread and diverse group of solitary bees that includes important pollinators of both wild and …

Exploring Host-Parasite Interactions In The Euhaplorchis Californiensis-Fundulus Parvipinnis System, Bennett J. Perry

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Parasites with complex life-cycles may alter their intermediate host’s phenotype to increase the chance of successful transmission to their next host. This parasite-induced host modification often occurs in the form of behavioral changes, such as increased frequency of irregular locomotor behaviors (e.g., conspicuous behaviors), particularly in systems where the parasite is transmitted trophically through a predation event. However, most empirical evidence of host behavioral modification by parasites comes from a few model host-parasite systems and are frequently studied following a stressor (e.g., simulated predator attack). One host species studied is the California killifish Fundulus parvipinnis, which is infected by …

Acoustic Sampling Of Arkansas Bat Species Richness Across Different Seasons And Habitats, Lark E. Sybrant

ATU Scholars Symposium

Arkansas is home to sixteen bat species belonging to the Vespertilionidae and Molossidae families. Bats are keystone species and provide numerous ecosystem services that also benefit people. This study explores factors that impact species richness between the spring and fall seasons in a wooded rural site (Washburn Park) and an urban field site (Arkansas Tech University campus), Russellville, AR. The non-invasive Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro, from Wildlife Acoustics, was used to record calls and identify bat species from these locations. Nearly 1,050 calls were recorded from 11 different species across the spring and fall between both sites. Results showed …