Other Life Sciences Commons^™

Beat Behind The Bark: Investigating The Effects Of Music Tempo On Canine Physiological And Psychological States, Marley Lanier

Honors Theses

This study explores how the tempo of music, measured in beats per minute (BPM), affects dogs' heart rate and oxytocin levels, adding to past research that shows that music affects physiological and behavioral states in dogs. Being able to understand these effects holds practical implications for improving overall well-being in canines in environments such as homes, shelters, and clinical environments. Using a within-subjects design, the dogs were exposed to slow and fast versions of one instrumental track, along with a white noise baseline condition before each randomized condition. Heart rate was recorded continuously throughout the session, and oxytocin saliva samples …

The Beat Behind The Bark: Investigating The Effects Of Music Tempo On Canine Physiological And Psychological States, Marley Lanier

Poster Presentations

Music is a universal component of human culture that has been demonstrated influencing emotional, cognitive, and physiological responses, specifically heart rate and hormonal responses (Mehr et al., 2019; Trappe, 2012). Recently, this research has expended to explore how music may affect non-human animals, particularly dogs, due to their roles as therapy animals, service animals, and human companions (Lindig et al., 2020; Gee et al., 2021). Being able to understand how music influences canine stress and relaxation hold important applications in environments such as shelters, veterinary clinics, and at home. One important feature of music is tempo, or beats per minute …

Evaluating Fungal Endophytes Inoculation As A Mechanism For Salt Tolerance In Juncus Roemarianus, Rani Badve

Honors Theses

Salinity stress is increasing in coastal and estuarine ecosystems due to increasing temperatures and the reduction of freshwater inputs via precipitation pattern changes. Elevated salinity can negatively affect plant survival, threatening the stability of coastal wetlands and the ecosystem services they provide. Juncus roemerianus is a common and dominant marsh plant in the Northern Gulf Coast that lives in varying salinities. Growing evidence suggests that root-associated fungal endophytes may contribute to enhanced stress tolerance; however, the response of fungal communities to salinity remains poorly understood.

This study evaluated how salinity influences the abundance and diversity of culturable root-associated fungal communities …

Feeding Ecology In Coastal Systems, Randi L. Cannon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) are critical foundation species in estuaries, providing numerous ecological and economic benefits. However, oyster populations have diminished worldwide. Effective oyster restoration and aquaculture require a mechanistic understanding of the physiological and environmental factors that govern oyster feeding, growth, and resilience under changing coastal conditions. We investigated how oyster ploidy and environmental conditions influenced oyster feeding and investigated how changes in abiotic conditions affected behavioral performance of oyster drills (Stramonita spp.), a key oyster predator. To better understand feeding responses and behaviors of both predator and prey we 1) used in-situ filter feeding assays to determine if feeding …

Impacts Of Nutrient Addition And Disturbance On Coastal Dune Arthropod Communities And Trophic Interactions, Kayla Beitzel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Coastal dune ecosystems face ongoing threats from human-mediated disturbance and altered resource availability. Because these dunes provide critical habitat for many organisms, including shorebirds, beach mice, and arthropods, changes in disturbance regimes or resource availability can impact plant communities and higher trophic levels by altering plant richness and productivity, which in turn influence arthropod abundance and diversity. To examine how disturbance and nutrient addition affect arthropod communities, we established twenty 5×5 m plots on Dauphin Island, crossing mechanical disturbance with a 10 g m⁻² addition of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, replicated across five experimental blocks. Arthropods were sampled using three …

Ghosts In Glass: Ghost Crabs (Ocypode Quadrata) As Judges Of Glass Sand For Coastal Restoration, Emily Parrish

Poster Presentations

Coastal erosion is heavily impacting coastal ecosystems across the Gulf. For instance, the state of Louisiana loses a football field worth of land every 100 minutes (Couvillion, 2017). The drastic loss of coastline highlights the dire need for restoration in the Northern Gulf Coast. An unexpected solution to this sediment loss may solve two major environmental issues at once by diverting millions of tons of glass waste from entering America’s landfills each year. By crushing glass to create sand and gravel for coastal restoration, we may generate a consistent and sustainable source of substrate. Our goal is to determine the …

Phytoplankton Responses To Changing Irradiance And Carbon Fertilization, Alison Siersma

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Phytoplankton play a crucial role in marine ecosystems due to their innate ability to fix carbon. As atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise from fossil fuel combustion, the resulting increase in dissolved CO2 and the concurrent decrease in ocean pH are likely to impact the phytoplankton community. The response of phytoplankton to elevated CO2 can vary significantly among species and environmental conditions (e.g. light, temperature, nutrient availability). To address these variations, an experiment was conducted using a controlled photobioreactor system, maintaining high and low light, constant temperature, nutrient levels, and two pCO2 concentrations. This study focused on two regionally relevant …

Survey Of The Boletes From Fish River Nature Preserve, Noah T. Nelson

Poster Presentations

Boletes are a special kind of mushroom inside of the Kingdom Fungi that are distinguished from other mushrooms by their uniquely pored hymenium, as opposed to gills. Many boletes are ectomycorrhizal, meaning they are mutualists with vascular plants, and thus beneficial to the overall health of the terrestrial ecosystem. Some are well-known for their edibility and are of economic importance. In the United States 59 genus-level clades comprising 290 operational taxonomic units have been reported. The southeastern US and Gulf Coast regions however are less researched and recorded for their mushroom ecology. In Alabama, only 56 bolete species have been …

Impacts Of Disturbance And Nutrient Addition On Coastal Dune Arthropod Communities, Kayla Beitzel

Honors Theses

Coastal dune ecosystems are globally distributed ecosystems that occur from the tropics to the poles and serve as the first line of defense during storms. They are critical habitats for a variety of organisms and also play a critical role in stabilizing coastal habitats. These systems face increased pressure via urban development, recreational expansion, and sea-level rise (Newman et al. 2023; Webster et al. 2005). Insects are vital consumers in coastal ecosystems and act as regulators of plant growth. Low-diversity ecosystems, like coastal dune systems, often contain a higher abundance of low-diverse insect consumers (Ripple et al. 2021), which can …

Linking The Metabolic And Ecological Fate Of Caribbean Ciguatoxins And Related Neurotoxins In Reef Herbivores, Jessica K. Gwinn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Ciguatera poisoning (CP) is one of the most prominent seafood-borne illnesses worldwide, affecting between 25,000–500,000 people annually. Ciguatera is caused by the ingestion of seafood contaminated with algal-derived ciguatoxins (CTX), the precursors of which are produced by benthic and toxigenic dinoflagellates in the genera Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa. These compounds enter marine food webs through herbivory and are subsequently transferred to higher trophic levels, undergoing complex metabolic biotransformations, which produce structurally related CTX derivatives. Consumption of CTX induces a variety of severe neurological, gastrointestinal, and/or cardiovascular symptoms beginning within hours and lasting for weeks to months following exposure. Despite the impact …

Fish And Invertebrate Use Of Restored Vs. Natural Oyster Reefs In A Shallow Temperate Latitude Estuary, Jonathan H. Grabowski, Christopher J. Baillie, Adam Baukus, Rachael Carlyle, F. Joel Fodrie, Rachel K. Gittman, A. Randall Hughes, David L. Kimbro, Juhyung Lee, Hunter S. Lenihan, Sean P. Powers, Kevin Sullivan

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Coastal marine habitats continue to be degraded, thereby compelling largescale restoration in many parts of the world. Whether restored habitats function similarly to natural habitats and fully recover lost ecosystem services is unclear. In estuaries, oyster reefs have been degraded by multiple anthropogenic activities including destructive fishing practices and reduced water quality, motivating restoration to maintain oyster fisheries and other ecosystem services, often at relatively high cost. We compared fish and invertebrate communities on recently restored (0–1 year post-restoration), older restored (3–4 years post-restoration), and natural oyster reefs to determine if and when restored reefs support functionally similar faunal communities. …

Population Dynamics, Relative Abundance, And Habitat Suitability Of Adult Red Drum (Sciaenops Ocellatus) In Nearshore Waters Of The North-Central Gulf Of Mexico, Crystal Hightower, J. Marcus Drymon, Amanda E. Jefferson, Matthew B. Jargowsky, Emily A. Seubert, Simon Dedman, John Mareska, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

In the Gulf of Mexico, the red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) is an immensely popular sportfish, yet the Gulf of Mexico stock is currently managed as data-limited in federal waters. The results of the federal stock assessment conducted in 2016 for Gulf of Mexico red drum were not recommended for providing management advice. Consequently, we sought to address data gaps highlighted in the assessment by producing up-to- date overall and sex-specific growth models, standardized indices of relative abundance, and predictions of habitat suitability and by updating estimates of natural mortality. Using a time series for the period of 2006–2018, we assigned …

Age, Growth, And Mortality Of Atlantic Tripletail In The North-Central Gulf Of Mexico, Amanda E. Jefferson, Matthew B. Jargowsky, Meagan N. Schrandt, Pearce T. Cooper, Sean P. Powers, John Dindo, J. Marcus Drymon

University Faculty and Staff Publications

In the southeastern USA and the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Atlantic Tripletail Lobotes surinamensis are increasingly targeted by recreational anglers, indicating that stock status should be assessed. A critical need for such assessments is age-specific data; however, previous studies have drawn conflicting conclusions regarding the most appropriate structure for aging. Moreover, growth parameters and mortality rates for GOM Atlantic Tripletail are unknown. Therefore, the goals of this study were to (1) evaluate sagittal otoliths and first dorsal spines as aging structures; (2) model combined and sex-specific growth; and (3) estimate mortality rates for GOM Atlantic Tripletail. From 2012 to 2019, …

Effects Of Shoreline Dynamics On Saltmarsh Vegetation, Shailesh Sharma, Joshua Goff, Ryan M. Moody, Ashley Mcdonald, Dorothy Byron, Kenneth L. Heck Jr., Sean Powers, Carl Ferraro, Just Cebrian

University Faculty and Staff Publications

We evaluated the impact of shoreline dynamics on fringing vegetation density at mid- and low-marsh elevations at a high-energy site in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Particularly, we selected eight unprotected shoreline stretches (75 m each) at a historically eroding site and measured their inter-annual lateral movement rate using the DSAS method for three consecutive years. We observed high inter-annual variability of shoreline movement within the selected stretches. Specifically, shorelines retrograded (eroded) in year 1 and year 3, whereas, in year 2, shorelines advanced seaward. Despite shoreline advancement in year 2, an overall net erosion was recorded during the survey …