Botany Commons^™

Revisión Bibliográfica De Algunos Términos Ecológicos Usados En Parasitología, Y Su Aplicación En Estudios De Caso, Christian Elizbeth Bautista-Hernández, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Amado Erick Rodríguez-Ibarra

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de los términos ecológicos usados en parasitología, de acuerdo con Margolis et al. (1982), Esch et al. (1990), Bush et al. (1997), Bush et al. (2001) y Zander, (2001), que hasta 1982 era un conflicto en parasitología, ya que a que no existían conceptos establecidos para esta área del conocimiento, debido a que esta disciplina se enfocaba principalmente en investigaciones médicas. Aunado a esto, se incurría en conflictos con los conceptos ecológicos como hábitat, sitio, localidad entre otros de igual valor. Con base en lo anterior Margolis et al. (1982) propusieron el desarrollo de nuevos …

Revisión Del Uso De Céstodos Como Indicadores De Contaminación Por Metales Pesados En Mamíferos De Medios Terrestres, Jorge Falcón-Ordaz, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores

Estudios en Biodiversidad

En México son pocos los estudios realizados con invertebrados para conocer la concentración de metales pesados en el ambiente, los primeros trabajos fueron realizados con organismos acuáticos. Sin embargo, la necesidad de conocer la contaminación ambiental en medios terrestres ha llevado a los investigadores a utilizar otras herramientas, por ejemplo los helmintos, que se utilizan como bioindicadores de contaminación ambiental basados en su capacidad de absorción, y concentración de contaminantes del medio en su cuerpo. El uso de bioindicadores es ventajoso y económico comparado con el análisis directo de contaminantes por que solo las fracciones que están biológicamente disponibles son …

Nuevos Registros Y Redescripción De Rhabdochona Xiphophori Caspeta-Mandujano, Moravec Y Salgado- Maldonado, 2001 (Nematoda: Rhabdochonidae) En El Estado De Hidalgo, México, Jorge Falcón-Ordaz, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Christian Elizbeth Bautista-Hernández, Sarahi Hernández-Hernández

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Teniendo en cuenta la diversidad de los ecosistemas acuáticos en México y la infinita riqueza de especies de peces en el país, la lista actual de nemátodos parásitos de peces de agua dulce en México está incompleta. Hasta la fecha en México el género Rhabdochona se encuentra registrado como parásito en una amplia gama de familias de peces de agua dulce. El objetivo del presente trabajo es redescribir ejemplares de Rhabdochona xiphophori parásita de Xiphophorus malinche colectados de dos localidades del estado de Hidalgo y compararlos morfológicamente.

Importancia De Las Aves Ictiófagas Como Hospederos Finales De Helmintos, En Dos Lagunas Costeras Del Estado De Guerrero, México, Juan Violante-González, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Scott Monks, Agustín A. Rojas-Herrera, Miguel A. Melo-García, Sergio García-Ibáñez, Edgar León Esparza-Ibarra, Edvino Larumbe-Morán, Jonatan Carbajal-Violante

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Se examinó la composición y riqueza de comunidades de helmintos en tres especies de aves ictiófagas: Ardea alba, Nyctanassa violacea y Phalacrocorax brasilianus en dos lagunas costeras del estado de Guerrero, México. La helmintofauna estuvo constituida por 23 especies: 17 digéneos, un acantocéfalo, dos céstodos y tres nemátodos. Cinco especies (Ascocotyle longa, Mehrastomum minutum, Riberoia ondatrae, Southwellina hispida y Contracaecum multipapillatum) co-ocurrieron en las tres especies de aves de ambas lagunas. Los niveles de infección de un 50% de las especies identificadas, variaron significativamente entre las especies de aves y lagunas. A nivel componente, la riqueza de especies varió significativamente …

Evaluación De Las Infracomunidades De Tres Especies De Peces En Dos Localidades De La Huasteca Hidalguense, Christian Elizbeth Bautista-Hernández, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Uno de los problemas más severos y menos controlados en México es el gran número de especies introducidas en las cuencas del país, hecho que pone en peligro la existencia de muchas de las especies endémicas. Además, las especies introducidas pueden transportar sus parásitos, que con frecuencia afectan a las poblaciones de especies endémicas. Anteriormente se realizó un estudio de las comunidades de parásitos de tres especies de peces, dos endémicas y una exótica (Xiphophorus birchmanni, Pseudoxiphophorus bimaculata y Amatitlania nigrofasciata). En ese trabajo se realizó el análisis de éstas comunidades evaluándolas a nivel infracomunidad, además se calculó la caracterización …

Parasitofauna De Peces De Lagunas Costeras Del Estado De Guerrero, México, Juan Violante-González, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Scott Monks, Agustín A. Rojas-Herrera, Jaime Salvador Gil-Guerrero, Sergio García-Ibáñez, Jonatan Carbajal-Violante

Estudios en Biodiversidad

No obstante que los parásitos representan un porcentaje muy importante de la biodiversidad global a nivel mundial, en muchas ocasiones son excluidos de estudios con este enfoque, debido principalmente a que han sido considerados durante muchos años, como simples agentes causantes de enfermedad. A partir de los datos obtenidos de varios estudios parasitológicos de peces y aves, efectuados en algunas lagunas costeras del estado de Guerrero a lo largo de varios años, se presenta un análisis global de la riqueza de la parasitofauna de peces, en estos altamente productivos y complejos sistemas acuáticos. La parasitofauna total estuvo constituida por 66 …

The Functional Role Of Leaf Nutrients In An Old-Field Successional Community, Kirstin I. Duffin

Masters Theses

In functional ecology, traits that capture aspects of plant performance are used to understand how organisms interact with their environment. Leaf nutrients are an example of a functional trait that directly links to plant metabolic processes and therefore may describe plant assemblage dynamics. Multivariate leaf nutrient analyses may be used with other functional traits to understand ecological strategies because they are a direct measure of leaf metabolic processes and can describe nuances in plant allocation patterns. In this thesis, I explored (1) whether a suite of leaf nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium) was related to plant growth …

South Loup River Valley Floristics: A Survey Of Selected Sites In Buffalo County, Nebraska, Steven J. Rothenberger, April M. Christman, Kevin Turek, Emmylou A. O'Brien

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Originating in the Nebraska Sand Hills, the South Loup River flows 30 km north of Kearney, Nebraska and traverses the northern edge of Buffalo County as it flows eastward to its confluence with the Middle Loup River in southwestern Howard County. Several diverse plant communities are associated with the South Loup Valley, including wet-meadows, wetland/oxbows, sand prairie, and riparian forest. Over a period of 6 years (2006-2012), we surveyed representative wet meadow, wetland, and sand prairie communities. We compiled an annotated vascular plant checklist that included 324 vascular plant species of which 11 were new county records. Three species of …

A Molecular Framework Phylogeny For Ptilotus (Amaranthaceae), Timothy A. Hammer

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Ptilotus (Amaranthaceae) is an Australian genus with over 100 species, most of which occur in arid Western Australia. Ptilotus has been a taxonomically difficult genus; despite rigorous morphological studies into the genus over many years, previous workers have found it difficult to delimit infrageneric groups due to inconsistent morphological variation. With the goal to establish a phylogenetic framework for the genus, 100 taxa were sampled, including 87 Ptilotus spp., and the ITS nrDNA and matK cpDNA were sequenced. The phylogeny was reconstructed using Bayesian, maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony analyses on separate and concatenated datasets. Morphological characters were assessed and …

Population Differentiation, Dispersal Limitation, And Local Adaptation In The Gametophytic Fern Vittaria Appalachiana, Sally M. Stevens

Open Access Dissertations

Species' distributions are driven by a variety of abiotic and biotic factors. As these factors become altered by global climate change, species are believed to respond to these projected environmental changes in four different ways. One response is the shifting of the species' geographic range to higher latitudes and elevations, which will be unlikely for those species that have limited dispersal potential. Alternatively, organisms may tolerate the change, which will be unlikely for those organisms that are not phenotypically plastic. A third potential response is to adapt to the new environment via rapid evolution, an unlikely response for those organisms …

Diatom Flora In Subterranean Ecosystems: A Review, Elisa Falasco, Luc Ector, Marco Isaia, Carlos E. Wetzel, Lucien Hoffmann, Francesca Bona

International Journal of Speleology

In scarcity of light and primary producers, subterranean ecosystems are generally extremely oligotrophic habitats, receiving poor supplies of degradable organic matter from the surface. Human direct impacts on cave ecosystems mainly derive from intensive tourism and recreational caving, causing important alterations to the whole subterranean environment. In particular, artificial lighting systems in show caves support the growth of autotrophic organisms (the so-called lampenflora), mainly composed of cyanobacteria, diatoms, chlorophytes, mosses and ferns producing exocellular polymeric substances (EPSs) made of polysaccharides, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. This anionic EPSs matrix mediates to the intercellular communications and participates to the chemical …

Response Of Grassland Songbirds To Grazing System Type And Range Condition, Stephen K. Davis, Brenda C. Dale, Tom Harrison, David C. Duncan

The Prairie Naturalist

Much of the remaining prairie in Canada is grazed by cattle and most grassland birds of conservation concern occupy such habitat. Identifying vegetation features related to grassland bird habitat selection that can be easily understood and measured by professional range managers and livestock producers on private lands is an important step towards conserving and restoring remaining grasslands. We conducted grassland bird surveys on 28 native mixed-grass prairie pastures in southern Saskatchewan to determine whether grazing system type (season-long vs. rotational) influenced avian abundance. Grazing system had no influence on abundance of grassland passerines. Conservation agencies that promote particular grazing systems …

Legacy Effects In Prairie Restoration: A 73-Year Spatial History, Thomas D. Brock

The Prairie Naturalist

Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie State Natural Area, one of the highest quality prairie remnants in southern Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, has been the target of extensive restoration efforts since it was acquired by the Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 1986. In the present work, I analyzed the spatial history of this prairie using a Geographical Information System (GIS) and an extended series of air photos, on-the-ground surveys, early maps, and land-use records. In 1937, when the first air photo was taken, the site was nearly devoid of trees and shrubs. In subsequent years, the site became progressively woody until at the time …

The Significance Of Micro-Prairie Reconstruction In Urban Environments, Bruno Borsari, Neal Mundahl, Malcom F. Vidrine, Marc Pastorek

The Prairie Naturalist

An aggressive urban sprawl during the last half century has not only contributed to habitat disturbance and extirpation, as well as a loss of knowledge and appreciation for biodiversity. Across the United States, prairie reconstruction has been a very effective approach for developing sustainable landscape designs in city parks and other open spaces. The purpose of this work is to focus on restoration and reconstruction of selected micro-prairies as a vehicle for enhanced place-based education and to partially remediate the consequences of global climate change and loss of pollinators. From the coastal prairies of southwestern Louisiana, to the eastern edge …

Introduction—23rd North American Prairie Conference, Dr. Douglas J. Cattani, Dr. Nicola Koper, Dr. Pamela Rutherford, Dr. Richard K. Baydack

The Prairie Naturalist

Building upon the tradition started in Illinois by Peter Schramm in 1970, with the first conference on prairies and prairie restoration, the North American Prairie Conference (NAPC) has developed a tradition of excellence in native prairie research, conservation, education and restoration of one of the worlds’ most productive, yet most endangered, ecosystems. It has spawned great interest, enthusiasm and efforts to better understand, appreciate, manage and conserve this vital part of North America’s natural and cultural history.

In early August 2012, the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg hosted the 23rd NAPC. The theme of the 2012 conference was “Celebrating Our …

Historic Distribution And Ecology Of Tall-Grass Prairie In Western Canada, Darcy C. Henderson, Nicola Koper

The Prairie Naturalist

Rapid settlement and agricultural development of western Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s nearly eliminated the tall-grass prairie, and pre-empted a detailed description by ecologists. A combination of literature review and historical ecological analysis of soils, climate, and composition data are applied to estimate the historic distribution, and area occupied by tall-grass prairie in southern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. The resulting area estimate of 20,830 km² is more than three times any previously reported value. Some confusion of terms from the first half of the 1900s, and the impact of invasive species on vegetation patterns observed …

Prairie Restoration: Bridging The Past And The Future, Daryl D. Smith

The Prairie Naturalist

Tallgrass prairie once dominated most of mid-continent North America. Conversion of this prairie to cropland was rapid and extensive. Today, it is the most decimated ecosystem in North America with less than two percent remaining. Prairie reconstruction began at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in the 1930s. Thirty years later, exemplary initiatives by a group of highly motivated restorationists in Illinois and Iowa became a part of the legacy of restoration ecology. Their work generated widespread public interest in prairie restoration and initiated the ongoing biennial North American Prairie Conference. Since then, practitioners have made significant advances in reconstruction and …

Effects Of Compost On Prairie Seedling Establishment And Seed Production, Thomas R. Rosburg, Emiy Sibigtroth, Adam Palmer

The Prairie Naturalist

Compost is a commonly used soil amendment in horticultural and agricultural practices that is generally known to improve soil conditions and plant growth. We conducted a field experiment to investigate the application of compost to prairie production plots as a method to improve seedling establishment and growth and the seed production of established plants. We evaluated the effect of compost depth and tillage on the survivorship, growth, reproduction and ecophysiology of several prairie plant species commonly used in restoration. Results were mixed; for some species, transplants in compost–amended plots incurred lower survivorship and reduced growth compared to control plots. When …

Reproductive Failure In Largeleaf Wild Indigo In A Restored Prairie In Southeastern Minnesota, Neal D. Mundahl

The Prairie Naturalist

Native prairie restorations in many regions of the United States have been hindered by various herbivores consuming plant reproductive parts or products. I conducted field studies of a population of largeleaf wild indigo (Baptisia lactea) on a restored prairie in southeastern Minnesota during the growing seasons of 2010–2012 to determine the cause(s) of repeated reproductive failure. I assessed plants for browsing damage caused by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) during the period of flowering and with a deer exclosure experiment involving caged and non-caged plants. I compared reproductive output (numbers of seed pods, viable seeds) of caged …

Association Of Soil Conditions And Grass Species With Variable Cover Of Leafy Spurge, Terence P. Mcgonigle, Jeremy L. Timmer

The Prairie Naturalist

Variation in soil conditions and grass cover was assessed across a range of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) cover values on a sandy rangeland in Manitoba, Canada. Soil conditions varied by site but not in relation to cover of leafy spurge. We observed a significant negative relationship between total grass cover and increasing cover of leafy spurge. Only porcupine grass (Hesperostipa spartea [Trin.] Barkworth) had a negative relationship with leafy spurge, falling from high cover at low weed occurrence to only trace levels at the highest leafy spurge abundance. Neither prairie Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha [Ledeb.] Schult.), rough …

Soil Chemical Responses To Fire Seasonality And Frequency In A Texas Grassland, Domingo M. Jariel Jr., R. James Ansley, Betty A. Kramp, David L. Jones

The Prairie Naturalist

On a clay-loam mixed grassland dominated by honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torr.) in northern Texas, we quantified soil pH, soil organic carbon (OC), electrical conductivity (EC), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) in response to various effects of summer and winter fire treatments from 1991–1996. We conducted summer fire between August and September, and winter fire between January and March. Treatments that included summer fires increased soil pH, EC, Na, and Cu and temporarily decreased soil OC and Mn (P ≤ 0.05). The winter fire treatment …

Venturing Through The Tall Grass: Experiencing The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, Christie L. Borkowsky, Erin Zahradka

The Prairie Naturalist

The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve (hereafter the Preserve) was established in 1989 with a goal of protecting a vanishing habitat and to educate the general public of the importance of native grasslands (M. Latta, Nature Manitoba, personal communication). Starting in the early 1990s, an annual Prairie Day event was organized in early August to provide a means of interaction between prairie enthusiasts, the general public and local residents. Self-guiding interpretive trails with rustic amenities were established in 1996 and 2004. School programs, tours, and a simple two-page newsletter have been used to promote the Preserve and bring out visitors …

Project Prairie And Tallgrass Education On The Rice Lake Plains: A Journey From 1870 To Today And Beyond, Todd Farrell, Mark Rupke, Mark Stabb

The Prairie Naturalist

Project Prairie began in 2011 as a curriculum-linked integrated environmental studies program to showcase the Rice Lake Plains (RLP), a tallgrass prairie landscape of sandy rolling hills located at the eastern extent of the Oak Ridges Moraine in southern Ontario. Project Prairie provides educators both indoor and outdoor activities that support their curriculum and share the story of the RLP. Project Prairie provides teacher and student resources that focus on the RLP from the mid-nineteenth century to present day. Learning objectives of Project Prairie are developed from the subjects of science, social science, language arts, geography, history, and Aboriginal culture. …

Notes: Oriental Bittersweet In Grasslands Near Eastern Bluebird Nest Boxes, Neal D. Mundahl

The Prairie Naturalist

Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.; hereafter OB) is an invasive, woody vine that has been expanding its range westward in North America since its introduction from East Asia in the mid-1700s for horticultural purposes (Albright et al. 2009, United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] 2012). Although typically a woodland problem in the United States (McNab and Meeker 1987), OB can invade grassland habitats (Fike and Niering 1999), likely sprouting from seeds dropped by birds and mammals (McNab and Meeker 1987, Greenberg et al. 2001, Sarver et al. 2008) and often developing into large, shrub-like tangles of intertwining stems (Fike …

Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve: Providing Habitat For Protected And Provincially Rare Species, Christie L. Borkowsky

The Prairie Naturalist

The establishment of the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in 1989 secured some of the largest and highest quality parcels of tall grass prairie remaining in the province. Shortly after securement by either Nature Manitoba (formerly Manitoba Naturalists Society) or Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, seasonal staff from the Critical Wildlife Habitat Program (CWHP) began inventory efforts to document the various floral and faunal species occurring on these acquisitions. With the addition of the Nature Conservancy of Canada to the Preserve partnership, the Preserve has grown in size to nearly 5,000 ha. The list of species identified on the Preserve has …

Potential Impacts Of Bison Wallows On A Restored Tallgrass Prairie Community, Kimran Miller, Johanna Foster, Kristen Nielsen, Mary O'Loughlin

The Prairie Naturalist

When bison (Bos bison) repeatedly roll on the ground, they denude vegetation and create wallows (semi-permanent bare areas) that alter the native prairie plant community. Responses to these wallow-related disturbances are not as well documented in restored prairies. From 1 June to 1 September 2010 and from 3 June to 6 August 2011, we examined potential responses at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, a restored prairie with resident bison. We hypothesized that plants and beetles would vary along a disturbance gradient. Our predictions were: (1) near wallows, plants with weedy lifestyles would have highest cover and biomass compared …

A Floristic Survey Of Selected Sites In The Loup River Valley, Nance County, Nebraska, Diane M. Flynn, Steven J. Rothenberger

The Prairie Naturalist

The Loup River Valley of Nebraska contains natural, undisturbed wet meadows with significant plant diversity. Even though these sites are infrequent and are often intermixed with heavily grazed pastures or cultivated fields, they support numerous plant and animal species that do not occur elsewhere. We surveyed three study sites (an ungrazed wet meadow; a grazed wet meadow; and a riparian area) that totaled approximately 68.8 ha during the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons. We compiled an annotated vascular plants checklist for the study area that included 244 plant species of which about 49% (119) were new county records. The mean …

Water Use And Water Tolerance In The Riparian Species American Sycamore (Plantanus Occidentalis L.) And How Its Physiology Compares To The Coexisting Black Willow (Salix Nigra Marshall), Eric Duncan

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

This study set out to compare aspects of water use and tolerance to inundation and drought of two riparian tree species, Platanus occidentalis L. and Salix nigra Marshall. The main goal of the study was to better understand the two species and assess the suitability of P. occidentalis for use in riparian restoration. To accomplish this, potted individuals were subjected to treatments of drought, inundation, or control, under greenhouse conditions, and separately, in order to estimate water use in trees, season-long diurnal measurements of sap flux (using Granier type thermal dissipation probes) were determined in situ for trees growing in …

Refining Phylogenetic Hypotheses Using Chloroplast Genomics And Incomplete Data Sets In Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), Joseph Frederic Walker

Open Access Theses

The genus Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), consists of predominantly annual plant species that are largely endemic to the California Floristic Province of western North America and occupy a large range of habitat types. With high levels of morphological and ecological diversity, Lasthenia is a robust tool, capable of providing a natural non-model organism for answering a diverse array of ecological and evolutionary questions. Future studies would benefit greatly from a strong phylogenetic hypothesis and more molecular resources, such as the whole plastome sequence for a representative species in the genus. Over a decade ago there was a study that laid a …

Multi-Scale Habitat Use Of Male Ruffed Grouse In The Black Hills National Forest, Cassandra L. Mehls, Kent C. Jensen, Mark A. Rumble, Michael C. Wimberly

The Prairie Naturalist

Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) are native upland game birds and a management indicator species (MIS) for aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the Black Hills National Forest (Black Hills). Our objective was to assess resource selection of male ruffed grouse to identify the most appropriate scale to manage for aspen and ruffed grouse in the Black Hills. During spring 2007 and 2008, we conducted drumming surveys throughout the central and northern Black Hills to locate used and unused sites from which we compared habitat characteristics at increasing spatial scales. Aspen with >70% overstory canopy cover (OCC) was important to the occurrence of …