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Full-Text Articles in Other Physiology

Designing An Optimal Thermal Preference Arena For Southern Cricket Frog (Acris Gryllus) Juveniles, Eleanor E. Briggs, David M. Phillips Jr. Apr 2025

Designing An Optimal Thermal Preference Arena For Southern Cricket Frog (Acris Gryllus) Juveniles, Eleanor E. Briggs, David M. Phillips Jr.

Honors Theses

Climate change has been altering ecosystems across the world at a substantial rate, disrupting the delicate ecophysiological relationships between ecosystems and the organisms that live in them. Ectotherms, such as amphibians, rely on external temperatures to behaviorally thermoregulate, making it especially imperative to study their thermal biology. Thermal preference, which assesses the environmental temperature an organism would seek out in the absence of external stimuli, provides valuable information about an amphibian’s thermal biology and can be used to predict the effects of climate change on a species or population. A commonly used method to measure thermal preference is an arena …


How Aquatic Insects Mitigate Temperature-Oxygen Challenges Via Behavioral, Morphological, And Physiological Plasticity, Jackson H. Birrell Jan 2023

How Aquatic Insects Mitigate Temperature-Oxygen Challenges Via Behavioral, Morphological, And Physiological Plasticity, Jackson H. Birrell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

How do organisms respond to environmental challenges and to environmental change? These questions occupy a central place in ecology and answering them will help us to understand why species live where they do, how organisms are affected by human activities, and, ultimately, how to choose among alternative conservation strategies. These questions are difficult, however, for two reasons. First, environmental challenges often involve multiple, interacting stressors. Second, individual responses can be modified by behavioral, morphological, and physiological plasticity. My dissertation investigates how interactions between temperature and oxygen influence the performance and survival of aquatic insects and how plasticity allows individuals to …


Common Garden Study Reveals Frost-Tolerant, Generalist Northern Seed Sources Are Best Suited To Expand Range Of Quercus Rubra, Emily Lindback Jan 2022

Common Garden Study Reveals Frost-Tolerant, Generalist Northern Seed Sources Are Best Suited To Expand Range Of Quercus Rubra, Emily Lindback

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Climate change is shifting the potential suitable range of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) faster than it can migrate, creating an adaptation lag. Quercus rubra is prominent in eastern North American forests and important for its carbon sequestration, ecological roles, and economic significance. Our study addresses which populations of Q. rubra are best suited for climatic conditions at the northern and central range limits. Our findings can inform forestry management policies such as assisted migration, where species are transferred within their native range to mitigate the effects of climate change. We planted over 800 Q. rubra seedlings …


Heat For The Masses: Thermal Ecology Of The Western Tent Caterpillar, Victoria Dahlhoff Jan 2020

Heat For The Masses: Thermal Ecology Of The Western Tent Caterpillar, Victoria Dahlhoff

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A unique feature of some gregarious, colonial insects is their ability to create external structures that alter environmental conditions for the entire (often family) group. A combination of physical alteration of local microhabitats and behavioral thermoregulation allows many of these animals to actively control their body temperatures, which allows them to regulate energy use and metabolism in variable thermal environments. Here I describe mechanisms of microhabitat modification and thermal regulation in the western tent caterpillar, Malacosoma californicum pluviale. Tent caterpillars build communal silk tents, whose temperatures can rise substantially above ambient air temperature. I experimentally manipulated colony sizes and examined …


Thermal And Low Oxygen Tolerance Of A Southern Population Of Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis), Daniel A. Lleras Jan 2019

Thermal And Low Oxygen Tolerance Of A Southern Population Of Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis), Daniel A. Lleras

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Climate change projections estimate a 2-3°C increase in water temperatures by the end of the century. The amount of habitat with suitable temperature and oxygen concentration for aquatic organisms will also be reduced. Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) inhabiting the rivers in Southeastern Georgia make an interesting study system as they do not participate in summer coastal migrations typical of their northern conspecifics. Instead, fish in this southern population remain in freshwater environments that experience warming and decreases in dissolved oxygen. The present study aims to determine the thermal and low oxygen tolerance of juvenile striped bass collected from …


Impacts Of Ammonia And Temperature On Freshwater Snail Behavior And Physiology., Megan Christine Dewhatley Dec 2018

Impacts Of Ammonia And Temperature On Freshwater Snail Behavior And Physiology., Megan Christine Dewhatley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gastropods are one of the most imperiled groups of animals in North America, yet there are major gaps in the literature pertaining to pollutants and climate change, and especially sublethal impacts. This dissertation assesses the effects of climate warming and unionized ammonia (NH3), one of the most abundant water pollutants, on the behavior and physiology of two caenogastropod snails: fine-ridged elimia (Elimia semicarinata) and Shawnee rocksnails (Lithasia obovata) (Gastropoda: Neotaenioglossa: Pleuroceridae). Righting behavior, or the movement used by snails to turn themselves right-side-up, was used as the main endpoint; delays in this behavior compromise …


Synergistic Effects Of Temperature And Salinity On The Gene Expression And Physiology Of Crassostrea Virginica, Hollis Jones Oct 2018

Synergistic Effects Of Temperature And Salinity On The Gene Expression And Physiology Of Crassostrea Virginica, Hollis Jones

LSU Master's Theses

Crassostrea virginica, the eastern oyster, forms reefs that provide critical services and benefits to the resiliency of the surrounding ecosystem. Changes in environmental conditions, including salinity and temperature, can dramatically alter the services oysters provide by affecting their population dynamics. Climate warming may further exacerbate the effects of salinity changes as precipitation events increase in frequency, intensity, and duration. Temperature and salinity independently and synergistically influence gene expression and physiology in marine organisms. We used comparative transcriptomics, physiology, and a field assessment experiment to investigate whether Louisianan oyster are changing their phenotypes to cope with increased temperature and salinity …


Impacts Of Long-Term Precipitation Manipulation On Hydraulic Architecture, Xylem Function, And Canopy Status In A Piñon-Juniper Woodland, Patrick J. Hudson Dec 2016

Impacts Of Long-Term Precipitation Manipulation On Hydraulic Architecture, Xylem Function, And Canopy Status In A Piñon-Juniper Woodland, Patrick J. Hudson

Biology ETDs

The Southwestern US is predicted to become hotter and drier, as global climate change forces increasing temperatures and variability in timing and size of precipitation inputs. Drought stress has become more frequent in recent decades, and resulted in massive forest mortality in piñon-juniper woodlands. During recent severe droughts (2000-2003, 2009-2012), piñon pine (Pinus edulis Englem.) suffered disproportionately high mortality compared to co-occurring one-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma [Engelm.] Sarg.). A large-scale precipitation manipulation experiment was established in a piñon-juniper woodland in central New Mexico to test hypotheses regarding tree survival and mortality with respect to altered water regimes. Our …