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Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics
Predicting Marine Teleost Responses To Ocean Warming And Pollution, Akila Harishchandra
Predicting Marine Teleost Responses To Ocean Warming And Pollution, Akila Harishchandra
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Ocean warming and pollution are two detrimental anthropogenic factors causing rapid marine ecosystem degradation recorded in the past decades. These factors alter the marine environment intolerable for many marine species, forcing them to either adapt or shift their contemporary habitat ranges to reduce the extinction risk embedded with environmental degradation. Estimating marine species’ habitat range shifts, and their potential for developing adaptive mechanisms are critical for ecosystem conservation and management, human health risk assessment, and climate change vulnerability assessments. Given that, for the first chapter of this thesis, we focused on developing a species distribution model (SDM) integrating marine species …
Disease Prevalence And The Population Genetic Structure Of Crassostrea Virginica Along The Georgia Coast, Sarah Batchelor
Disease Prevalence And The Population Genetic Structure Of Crassostrea Virginica Along The Georgia Coast, Sarah Batchelor
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is an ecologically important species that plays a role in protecting shorelines, water filtration, and providing habitat and food for various fish species. Perkinsus marinus and Haplosporidium nesloni are two pathogens currently affecting oyster populations. These pathogens have both been documented as causes of mass mortality events along the East coast. They greatly diminish the health of oysters, resulting in the degradation of oyster tissue, reduction in growth and reproductive ability, and may cause death. In this study, wild oysters were collected from eleven locations along the Georgia coast to investigate the presence, intensity, …
From Phocine Distemper To Avian Influenza: A Study Of Immunogenetic Diversity In Two Sympatric Pinniped Species, Alayna K. Gigliotti
From Phocine Distemper To Avian Influenza: A Study Of Immunogenetic Diversity In Two Sympatric Pinniped Species, Alayna K. Gigliotti
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Gray (Halichoerus grypus) and harbor (Phoca vitulina) seals are sympatric species that inhabit the North Atlantic and have been subject to mortality events from disease outbreaks, particularly phocine distemper and avian influenza virus. Across mortality events, gray seals tend to exhibit a higher survival rate, which could be explained by various ecological factors impacting rates or direction of selection in parts of the genome related to the immune system. These factors could include haul-out site density, habitat, and degree of inter/intraspecies interaction. This research aims to compare genetic diversity within the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class …
Response Of Early Life Stage Homarus Americanus To Ocean Warming And Acidification: An Interpopulation Comparison, Maura K. Niemisto
Response Of Early Life Stage Homarus Americanus To Ocean Warming And Acidification: An Interpopulation Comparison, Maura K. Niemisto
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Anthropogenic carbon released into the atmosphere is driving rapid, concurrent increases in temperature and acidity across the world’s oceans, most prominently in northern latitudes. The geographic range of the iconic American lobster (Homarus americanus) spans a steep thermal gradient and one of the most rapidly warming oceanic environments. Understanding the interactive effects of ocean warming and acidification on this species’ most vulnerable early life stages is important to predict its response to climate change on a stage-specific and population level. This study compares the responses of lobster larvae from two sub-populations spanning New England’s north-south temperature gradient (southern …
Thermal And Microbial Effects On Brown Macroalgae: Heat Acclimation And The Biodiversity Of The Microbiome, Charlotte Tc Quigley
Thermal And Microbial Effects On Brown Macroalgae: Heat Acclimation And The Biodiversity Of The Microbiome, Charlotte Tc Quigley
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation examines effects of stress on brown algal biology from a macroscopic scale by examining the whole aquaculture crops, and at a microscopic level by examining the macroalgal microbiome, across the vertical stress gradient of the intertidal zone and across the latitudes of their biogeographic ranges. Thermal stress negatively affected seedstock gametophytes of the kelp Alaria esculenta isolated from northern and southern locations in Maine. However, previous thermal stress had a positive effect on growth of the next-generation sporophytes. Alaria esculenta has potential as a kelp crop in Maine’s sea vegetable aquaculture sector and implementing this protocol may allow …
Changes In The Microbial Community Of Lubomirskia Baicalensis Affected By Red Sponge Disease, Colin Rorex
Changes In The Microbial Community Of Lubomirskia Baicalensis Affected By Red Sponge Disease, Colin Rorex
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Lake Baikal is the oldest known lake and a unique ecosystem, home to several species of fresh water sponge. A disease outbreak affecting the dominant species, Lubormirskia baialensis, was recently reported. The cause of the disease has not been determined but one of the current hypothesis is that the increase in methane concentration is correlated to the disease outbreak. This pilot study characterized the microbiomes of sick and healthy sponges through the use of 16S rRNA sequencing. Sick sponge microbiomes shared a conserved group of taxa while the healthy sponge microbiomes had greater diversity. Indicator species analysis identified two significant …
Divergent Responses Of Larval And Juvenile Blue Mussels To Low Salinity Exposure, Melissa A. May
Divergent Responses Of Larval And Juvenile Blue Mussels To Low Salinity Exposure, Melissa A. May
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In this study, we compared the osmotic stress response of larval and juvenile blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) at the transcriptomic, metabolomic, and whole organism levels. Blue mussels inhabit coastal areas, where they face climate-induced reductions in nearshore salinity. Despite their ecological and economic importance, scientists do not fully understand the underlying transcriptomic and cellular mechanisms of the osmotic stress response in blue mussels or how the ability to respond to stress changes throughout development. Blue mussels spend the first weeks of life developing through several larval stages in the plankton. These early life history stages are more vulnerable …
The Role Of Artificial Structures In Facilitating Range Expansion Of The Introduced Barnacle Megabalanus Coccopoma In The Southeastern U.S.A., Alicia M. Reigel
The Role Of Artificial Structures In Facilitating Range Expansion Of The Introduced Barnacle Megabalanus Coccopoma In The Southeastern U.S.A., Alicia M. Reigel
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The barnacle Megabalanus coccopoma is a recent invader of the southeastern U.S.A. from the tropical eastern Pacific. In Georgia, M. coccopoma populations along the immediate coastline often suffer extensive mortality during the winter, but population rebuilding is common after these events suggesting that there may be nearby larval sources. I investigated the hypothesis that artificial structures (i.e., buoys, towers), occurring far enough offshore of Georgia for water temperatures to be moderated by the Gulf Stream, provide refuges for breeding adults of M. coccopoma and can serve as the larval source. I investigated this hypothesis by first developing thirteen microsatellite primer …
Variation In Egg Components: A Study Of Maternal Investment And Resource Partitioning In The Nesting Loggerhead Sea Turtle; Estimating Genic Variation And Mapping Genetic Lineage Of A Rare Captive Helodermatid Population: Heloderma Horridum Charlesbogerti, Ketan V. Patel
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Loggerhead sea turtles have the highest egg yields of any oviparous non-avian reptiles. Blood urea nitrogen levels increased as the season progressed while total blood albumen and total protein levels decreased. Wet egg mass (H = 1.7719 df = 2 p = 0.0375*) and albumen mass (H = 6.0507 df = 2 p = 0.0485*) significantly decreased across the nesting season however, wet yolk did not. Analysis of dried egg components showed that dry yolk and albumen did not differ across the nesting season. In addition on no seasonal change in dried egg components, hatchling size was conserved across the …
Functional Activation Of Cartilaginous Fish Melanocortin Receptors, Christina Lee Reinick
Functional Activation Of Cartilaginous Fish Melanocortin Receptors, Christina Lee Reinick
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The evolution of the melanocortin receptor (MCR) gene family has been dictated by two genome duplication events (2R hypothesis). The gnathostomes are thus predicted to possess a minimum of four MCR genes. Previous studies on cartilaginous fish have shown evidence for the presence of only three MCRs. The purpose of this thesis is to functionally express the MC5R from the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) and the putative MC2R and MC3R from the elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii); these receptors have not yet been fully characterized. In this study, SacMC5R was able to be expressed in CHO cells …