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Articles 1 - 30 of 39
Full-Text Articles in Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Impact Of Legacy Amf Communities On Vegetative Growth & Yield Of Soybean, Dylan Habeeb, Connor Morozumi, Natalie Christian
Impact Of Legacy Amf Communities On Vegetative Growth & Yield Of Soybean, Dylan Habeeb, Connor Morozumi, Natalie Christian
The Cardinal Edge
Soil microbial communities are increasingly recognized as an important factor in sustainable agriculture. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), are key players in these communities, known to benefit their plant host in a number of ways, such as increased nutrient uptake. Plants can partner with multiple AMF species; however, little is known about how interactions between multispecies communities of AMF impact plant growth and yield. In an agricultural setting, the long-term development of these communities following practices such as rotational planting or cover cropping is also an important consideration, but there is little research on the long-term legacy of AMF communities or …
Leaf Droppage Delayed In Sugar Maple Trees On An Urban To Rural Gradient, Isabella S. Bastien, Isabella Bastien
Leaf Droppage Delayed In Sugar Maple Trees On An Urban To Rural Gradient, Isabella S. Bastien, Isabella Bastien
The Cardinal Edge
This study investigates the timing of leaf abscission in Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) trees along an urban-to-rural gradient in Louisville, Kentucky, to determine how proximity to urban environments influences leaf drop. We hypothesized that urban trees would retain their leaves longer than suburban or rural trees due to environmental stressors and tested this using weekly leaf collection and canopy cover measurements from three locations—urban, suburban, and rural. Results showed that urban trees exhibited delayed leaf drop and slower canopy opening compared to suburban and rural trees. These findings suggest that urban stressors significantly alter tree phenology, which may signal underlying …
The Ecology Of Arthropod Rain In A Tropical Forest., Andrew Robert Seiler
The Ecology Of Arthropod Rain In A Tropical Forest., Andrew Robert Seiler
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Tropical forests are structured by complex vertical linkages and nutrient exchanges between canopy and understory habitats. These linkages include the downward flux of organisms, the movement of canopy fauna, and the recycling of nutrients through litter and organic matter deposition. This dissertation investigates arthropod rain and its role in connecting the canopy and forest floor processes in a lowland tropical forest in Panama. Chapter 2 quantifies “arthropod rain”, the fall of canopy arthropods into the understory. Using pan and pole traps, I measured the composition, abundance, and biomass of arthropods falling from the canopy and assessed environmental drivers of the …
Changing Globally, Acting Locally: Responses Of Coastal Plant Functional Traits To Global Change Are Mediated By Biotic And Abiotic Interactions., Shannon L. Walker
Changing Globally, Acting Locally: Responses Of Coastal Plant Functional Traits To Global Change Are Mediated By Biotic And Abiotic Interactions., Shannon L. Walker
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
We live in a time of rapid global change with substantial consequences for planet-wide functioning. Local ecosystems reflect this change, yet we struggle to predict their responses. Coastal ecosystems, like dune and interdunal wetlands, have declined rapidly and predicting their responses to global change is essential for future management. Functional traits may be particularly informative as they drive species and ecosystem responses and can provide generalizable findings. This dissertation investigates how global change, especially anthropogenic nitrogen (N) enrichment, interacts with abiotic and biotic factors to affect coastal sand dune and interdunal wetland plant functional traits. First, I used a long-term …
Ecosystem Services Of Urban Green Spaces In Louisville, Ky., Julia Kachanova
Ecosystem Services Of Urban Green Spaces In Louisville, Ky., Julia Kachanova
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Accelerating urbanization poses critical challenges to urban green spaces (UGS), vital for ecological balance and human health. Rapid development often results in fragmented habitats, biodiversity loss, and diminished ecosystem service delivery. There is an urgent need to explore and evaluate novel strategies capable of enhancing urban resilience, such as implementing urban orchards, and managing existing parks and gardens in sustainable ways. This dissertation explores how different forms of urban green spaces (UGS) contribute to the provision and maintenance of critical ecosystem services that support human well-being and urban biodiversity. By analyzing UGS impact on ecosystem service provisioning and long-term sustainability, …
Senesced Leaves Of An Invasive Species (Lonicera Maackii) Alter Community Composition And Ecosystem Function In Experimental Wetlands, Cy Mott
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Secondary compounds produced by terrestrial invasive plants can cross terrestrial-aquatic boundaries via senesced leaves, leading to altered patterns of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Prior attempts to examine the impacts of invasive leaves on wetland communities have primarily employed the use of leaf leachates and focal taxa inhabiting relatively low trophic positions, and additional studies are needed to examine impacts on higher-order consumers and potential additive/synergistic effects of leachates and leaf decomposition. Using cattle-tank mesocosms across multiple experiments, we observed that the addition of senescent leaves of Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) to native leaves resulted in mass mortality …
The Effects Of Imposed Drought And Nutrient Availability On Soil Microbial Biomass And Enzyme Activity In A Long-Term Restored Grassland, Ashley A. Wojciechowski
The Effects Of Imposed Drought And Nutrient Availability On Soil Microbial Biomass And Enzyme Activity In A Long-Term Restored Grassland, Ashley A. Wojciechowski
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Restoring agricultural lands back to grassland aims to reverse many negative impacts of agriculture on the ecosystem including nutrient export from soil and depletion of soil carbon. Planting prairie on agricultural soil promotes recovery of soil microbial biomass and their enzymes, which create demand for nitrogen by microbes to reduce the rate of nutrient cycling and loss. A complicating factor in the development of a restored grassland the influence of several anthropogenic global changes including increasing frequency of drought and nutrient enrichment. Drought has been found to negatively affect microbial biomass, soil enzyme activity and nutrient cycling. Nutrient (often N) …
Effects Of Extra-Pair Paternity On Provisioning Effort And Nest Defense In Male House Wrens (Troglodytes Aedon), Avery Dart
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Some animals form socially monogamous pair bonds in which a male and female mate and raise young together. However, individuals within a socially monogamous pair bond may still mate with other individuals; this mating is defined as extra-pair mating (EPM). Extra-pair paternity (EPP) occurs when offspring arise from EPM. In wild birds, EPM is approximated by EPP. Males benefit from EPP by siring additional offspring without any investment aside from sperm, but the benefits of EPM for females are less clear. Females may gain fertility assurance, access to better foraging grounds, and nest protection from males, as males are incentivized …
Adaptive Plasticity Of Coloration In Response To Environmental Change, Karissa Coffield
Adaptive Plasticity Of Coloration In Response To Environmental Change, Karissa Coffield
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
When rapid environmental changes occur, different selective forces can create phenotypic trade-offs in which a trait can provide fitness benefits or costs under different environmental conditions. Amphibians are particularly vulnerable to environmental change, and previous research has revealed that some species will plastically respond to variation in temperature and ultra-violet radiation (UVR) by altering their coloration. Divergent selection on coloration may change with elevation and climate induced shifts in temperature because high temperatures are likely to result in lighter color morphs but as elevation increases, UVR exposure increases leading to the prediction that darker color morphs will be more common. …
Endophytic Fungi And Their Competitive Hierarchy And Effects Of Changing Environmental Nitrogen., Haley G. Bryant, Kylea R. Garces
Endophytic Fungi And Their Competitive Hierarchy And Effects Of Changing Environmental Nitrogen., Haley G. Bryant, Kylea R. Garces
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Endophytes are fungi that live symbiotically within the roots of plants. These fungi can serve different functions within the roots, and are thought to form a competitive hierarchy that allows them to coexist. It is not well established how specific species act within this endophytic dynamic, especially with each other. This experiment looked to better understand these relationships through Grime’s C-S-R model; growing the extracted fungal species in different treatments: control, stress, low nitrogen, high nitrogen, and comparing each growth rate and biomass over a two-week period. The species looked at in this study were extracted from dominant dune-building grass …
Late Cretaceous Marine Vertebrates From The Tarrant Formation, Tarrant County, Texas U.S.A, Aaron Johnson, Kenshu Shimada
Late Cretaceous Marine Vertebrates From The Tarrant Formation, Tarrant County, Texas U.S.A, Aaron Johnson, Kenshu Shimada
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
The Tarrant Formation (middle Cenomanian: ca. 96 million years ago) is a stratigraphic member of the Upper Cretaceous Eagle Ford Group in Texas, U.S.A., and consists of calcareous sandstone formed near the East Texas Embayment of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, an epicontinental seaway in North America. We examined vertebrate fossils from the Tarrant Formation based on specimens collected through surface collecting and bulk sampling from three localities in Tarrant County, Texas, including the type locality of a pachyrhizodontid fish, Polcynichthys lloydhilli. Our preliminary examination shows that the fossil fauna includes shark species such as Ptychodus anonymous, Archaeolamna sp., …
Pollinators And Flowering Resources In Louisville Urban Green Spaces, Sarah Hobbs
Pollinators And Flowering Resources In Louisville Urban Green Spaces, Sarah Hobbs
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Urban Greenspaces can appear in many different forms such as parks, urban orchards, and community gardens. These spaces provide important ecosystem services such as enhanced biodiversity, improved soil health, and increased carbon sequestration. Greenspaces such as parks and community gardens have been relatively well studied in the last few decades compared to urban orchards, despite the multitude of ecosystem services that can be provided or enhanced by these orchards. We hypothesize that urban orchards will provide the optimal conditions for pollinator communities because urban orchards normally have the greatest variety of vegetation and flowering resources, which is positively correlated with …
Herbarium Records Reveal Sex-Specific Effects Of Climate Warming On Phenology Of Fragaria Virginiana, Ethan R. Richardson
Herbarium Records Reveal Sex-Specific Effects Of Climate Warming On Phenology Of Fragaria Virginiana, Ethan R. Richardson
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Plant populations tend to be hermaphroditic, but in some cases can diverge into a dioecious sexual system, or one that possesses both male and female members. Prior studies show a correlation between sex systems evolution such as these and ecological variables. These variables impose challenges on plants' ability to propagate and in a dioecious population, males and females have been seen to respond differently to different environmental contexts. What is still being studied is the degree to which biogeography contributes to the sexual differentiation of dioecious species. While evidence supports the idea of a latitudinal gradient contributing to sexual differentiation, …
How Accurately Structure Can Identify Hybrids When Comparing Different Numbers Of Species And Marker Types And Numbers, Chloe Hendrikse
How Accurately Structure Can Identify Hybrids When Comparing Different Numbers Of Species And Marker Types And Numbers, Chloe Hendrikse
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Hybridization is a common problem in conservation. It can be difficult to identify hybrid individuals but doing so is often necessary in order to make conservation recommendations. For example, botanical gardens and seed banks want to identify if individuals are hybrids of two or more species to determine if offspring could be used for conservation or restoration, and to analyze the risk of possible extinction via introgression. Our project looks at how well the program STRUCTURE can detect and cluster hybrids, their parent species, and other pure species, which we created using simulations. We build on past studies, which typically …
Air Pollution Is Associated With Increased Stress In Urban Songbirds, Reagan Earlywine
Air Pollution Is Associated With Increased Stress In Urban Songbirds, Reagan Earlywine
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Air pollution has been suggested to be a major driver of decline in native bird populations. Understanding how air pollution affects avian physiology and how air pollution exposure may be reduced may help develop effective conservation solutions. Here we tested whether elevated air pollution exposure was associated with increased physiological stress response in free-living urban American robins, and whether urban vegetation mitigated this effect. Specifically, we asked whether the concentration of the stress-related glucocorticoid hormone corticosterone was predicted by exposure to two metrics of air pollution: nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ultrafine particulates (UFPs); and two metrics of green …
Effect Of Functional Trait Variation On Bee Body Temperature, Gabriella A. Muller
Effect Of Functional Trait Variation On Bee Body Temperature, Gabriella A. Muller
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Bees are both ecologically and economically important pollinators for maintaining agricultural production and the health of many diverse ecosystems. As our world continues to change, bee diversity and population numbers are declining due to increasing temperatures. Functional traits such as body size and coloration can mediate the effects of such harsh thermal conditions on insect performance. Specifically, bee body size can significantly impact thermal parameters, with larger bees gaining and losing heat more slowly than smaller bees due to higher surface area to volume ratios. To obtain a better understanding of these relationships, we studied the variation in body temperature …
Quantifying The Relationship Between Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi And A Native And Invasive Thistle, Nicole Baker, Lucia Vera, Ian Rosales
Quantifying The Relationship Between Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi And A Native And Invasive Thistle, Nicole Baker, Lucia Vera, Ian Rosales
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) associate with 80% of vascular plant roots and are an important part of nutrient exchange. Our research quantified the relationship between (AMF) and native Pasture Thistle (Cirsium discolor) and invasive Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense). We hypothesized that Pasture Thistle would have a stronger relationship with AMF than Canada Thistle because of the degraded mutualism hypothesis, which states that invasive species have reduced relationships with AMF. For our experiment, we grew inoculated and non-inoculated plants at 10 different levels of soil phosphorus concentrations. Pasture Thistle and Canada Thistle were both facultatively dependent upon …
An Optimal Patch Use Model For Nitrogen Foraging In Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Xin Lin
An Optimal Patch Use Model For Nitrogen Foraging In Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Xin Lin
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Optimal Foraging Theory has been widely used to study animal foraging behaviors, but has seldom been applied to symbiotic microbes like arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. To date we know little about how AM fungi make decisions to forage in different nutrient patches. To help address this gap we here apply Optimal Foraging Theory to understand how AM fungi forage for nitrogen. We focus on nitrogen because AM fungi need more nitrogen than their plant hosts and soil nitrogen availability can shift the relationship between AM fungi and their hosts from mutualism to parasitism. We present a stochastic dynamic programming model …
Effect Of Variable Canopy Cover On Floral Visitation, Toby Shaya
Effect Of Variable Canopy Cover On Floral Visitation, Toby Shaya
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Pollinators provide essential services for ecosystem function. Studies aimed at understanding how availability of floral resources impacts pollinators find that canopy cover impacts bees indirectly by affecting the amount of floral resources in the forest understory and directly by changing the thermal environment in which they can thermoregulate. As ectotherms the maintenance of bee body temperature depends on the distribution of patches of sun and shade throughout a landscape, which can be dependent on canopy cover. The goals of this study were to understand how variable canopy cover drives floral visitation patterns in oak savanna found in the Oak Openings …
Scaling Global Urban Greenspace, Kyra J. Liedtke
Scaling Global Urban Greenspace, Kyra J. Liedtke
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Cites are novel ecosystems. Understanding the complex interactions between urban abiotic and biotic attributes is important for managing future urban expansion. Using urban scaling theory (UST) combined with global datasets raises the prospect of deriving predictive rules for scaling urban greenspace with city size. Aspects of the city, such as greenspace, are influenced by several social and ecological factors that scale with a city's size. Empirical data from European cities showed superlinear scaling, in which greenspace increased disproportionately with city size. However, the comprehension of global greenspace scaling still needs to be understood. A macroecological perspective using a scaling approach …
Elevated Co2 Drives Community And Network Structural Change Within Foliar Microbiomes Of Soybean, Connor Morozumi
Elevated Co2 Drives Community And Network Structural Change Within Foliar Microbiomes Of Soybean, Connor Morozumi
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Microbiomes within plants can play large roles in determining responses to stress or perturbation, increasingly common in a rapidly changing world. For example, foliar endophytes are known to increase stress tolerance to drought and decrease herbivory among many other effects. How these microbes are likely to respond to global change themselves is poorly understood. Global changes, such as increased atmospheric CO2, which can influence host plant physiological processes, have the potential to directly and indirectly alter microbiome community structure. Here, we assessed community and network structure of bacterial and fungal phyllosphere microbiomes within soybean (Glycine max). …
Preliminary Report On Fossil Marine Vertebrates From The Mid-Pfeifer Shale (Upper Cretaceous) From Central Kansas, Alison G. Mieczkowski
Preliminary Report On Fossil Marine Vertebrates From The Mid-Pfeifer Shale (Upper Cretaceous) From Central Kansas, Alison G. Mieczkowski
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
The Pfeifer Shale is a 93-million-years-old rock unit belonging to the Upper Cretaceous Greenhorn Limestone broadly distributed in central Kansas, where it formed in the Western Interior Seaway, a Late Cretaceous epicontinental seaway in North America. Here, we describe fossil marine vertebrates collected from the middle portion of the Pfeifer Shale at a locality in Russell County, Kansas. Surface-collected specimens are largely represented by teeth of some extinct sharks, such as Ptychodus, Cretoxyrhina, and Squalicorax, that are typical for rock units of the Western Interior Seaway immediately above and below the Pfeifer Shale. Examination of microscopic fossils …
Polyploidy’S Impact On Plant-Herbivore Dynamics: Evidence From Experiments With Water-Lily Aphids And Greater Duckweed, Hannah R. Assour
Polyploidy’S Impact On Plant-Herbivore Dynamics: Evidence From Experiments With Water-Lily Aphids And Greater Duckweed, Hannah R. Assour
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Polyploidy, or whole-genome duplication, is a widespread mutational process in plants with a myriad of phenotypic and genotypic consequences. In addition to consequences incurred by the plant, polyploidy can potentially cascade to alter species interactions. Yet, knowledge of whether ploidy-induced variation has effects on plant-herbivore dynamics is scarce. Here, we test whether aphid herbivores exhibit preference for a diploid or polyploid host cytotype and whether ploidy impacts plant resistance and tolerance to aphids, measured as aphid and plant performance respectively. To answer these questions, we evaluated aphid choice and compared the effects of the water-lily aphid (Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae) …
Historical Climate-Influenced Shifts In Flower Shape And Production Of A Common Annual Plant, Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens Capensis), Amber M. Stanley
Historical Climate-Influenced Shifts In Flower Shape And Production Of A Common Annual Plant, Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens Capensis), Amber M. Stanley
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Climate change is a major human-mediated stressor that has been altering temperature patterns across the globe since the Industrial Revolution. In the Eastern United States, it has been projected that the average annual temperature will increase by 3-5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. Such environmental changes have the potential to disrupt key interactions between species. For example, the vast majority (ca. 90%) of flowering plants rely on animal pollinators to transfer pollen between individuals to reproduce. Higher temperatures cause many plant species to flower up to 3-4 weeks earlier in the year, but pollinator activity has not shifted with …
Microbe-Mediated Drought Responses In Plant Communties, Caleb Callahan, Jordan Ziss
Microbe-Mediated Drought Responses In Plant Communties, Caleb Callahan, Jordan Ziss
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Microbial communities from drought environments have been observed to protect plants undergoing drought stress. A majority of studies have focused on single species; however, effects at a community level have yet to be thoroughly investigated. We asked how plant communities facing drought stress will differ in productivity when inoculated with microbe communities that have evolved under drought compared to well-watered conditions, as well as how biomass and trait responses vary across plant species. To investigate this, we used microbial communities from the rainfall manipulation LTER at Kellogg Biological Station to inoculate mesocosms simulating early successional grassland communities under drought or …
Bryophytes At Cave Entrances Across A Range Of Anthropogenic Disturbance, Morghan Mccool
Bryophytes At Cave Entrances Across A Range Of Anthropogenic Disturbance, Morghan Mccool
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Cave entrances are critical ecosystems in their role as ecotones between the interior cave environment and the surrounding external environment. Bryophytes serve as ecosystem engineers of cave entrance microhabitats. This study piloted a method to quantify anthropogenic disturbance unique to cave entrances and characterize the bryophyte assemblages at caves in urban and other natural areas. Bryophytes and environmental variables were sampled from cave entrances; bryophytes were identified, alpha and beta diversity values were computed. So far, 144 species of bryophytes, 36 of which were state records, have been identified across 6 sites. By improving knowledge of bryophyte communities, park managers …
Patterns Of Neural Investment In Sensory Modalities Of Tropical Canopy And Understory-Dwelling Ants (Pseudomyrmex), Daniella Prince
Patterns Of Neural Investment In Sensory Modalities Of Tropical Canopy And Understory-Dwelling Ants (Pseudomyrmex), Daniella Prince
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
The neuroanatomy of insects reflects functional roles and cognitive capabilities. The high energetic cost of the development and maintenance of neural tissue constrains investment in brain compartments that receive and process sensory input. Thus, differential investment in sensory compartments should parallel selective pressures, including significant habitat parameters. We tested the hypothesis that ants occupying different vertical rainforest strata exhibit differential investment in visual and olfactory brain regions. We used confocal microscopy to examine immunostained brains of species with distinct nesting and foraging preferences: Pseudomyrmex boopis (understory; U), P. gracilis (understory and canopy; UC), and P. oculatus (canopy; C). We created …
Evolution Of A Genus Of Gall Wasp Kleptoparasites, Guerin E. Brown
Evolution Of A Genus Of Gall Wasp Kleptoparasites, Guerin E. Brown
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Kleptoparasites do not directly parasitize their hosts but instead steal food and resources, reducing host fitness. Like direct parasites, kleptoparasites can be highly dependent on their hosts such that their evolutionary histories may be linked. Here, we study the evolution of a kleptoparasitic wasp genus, Synergus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini), in relation to their hosts, oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini). Ovipositing oak gall wasps induce the formation of galls on oaks (Fagaceae) that provide food and shelter to one or more developing gall wasps. Galls induced by different gall wasp species are diverse in size, shape, color, and location …
Where The Wild Mushrooms Are: Species And Secondary Metabolite Diversity In Fungal Species On The Saint Mary’S College Campus, Lex K. Gilman
Where The Wild Mushrooms Are: Species And Secondary Metabolite Diversity In Fungal Species On The Saint Mary’S College Campus, Lex K. Gilman
2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference
Secondary metabolites in fungi have three main ecological functions: protection against predation, communication with other mushrooms, and assistance in pathogenic interactions. These compounds have also led to the common use of mushrooms as food and in traditional Chinese or other medicinal applications. However, there are currently few good resources for identifying mushroom species in North-Central Indiana. In addition, limited research exists on secondary metabolites in mushrooms. The objective of this research was to create a preliminary database of mushroom species at Saint Mary’s College and conduct preliminary research on the secondary metabolites of these local species. Fungal specimens were identified …
Nitrogen Availability In Dune Systems And Its Effect On Root Fungal Endophyte Communities., Haley E. Sage
Nitrogen Availability In Dune Systems And Its Effect On Root Fungal Endophyte Communities., Haley E. Sage
College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses
As global change persists, changes in resource availability can influence plant-microbe interactions. To understand how resource availability can influence these interactions and species diversity, I focused this research on how varying nitrogen (N) levels affect root endophyte communities in the plant species Ammophila breviligulata, an ecosystem engineer in the dune system. I analyzed the relationship between nitrogen addition and microbial community composition across 60 plots treated with three nitrogen addition levels (control, low, and high) in a long-term experimental field site in the Lake Michigan dunes. I identified Ammophila breviligulata's root endophyte community after creating a culture collection and …