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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Evolutionary Potential Of A Dispersal-Restricted Species In Response To Climate Change, Lorena Torres Martinez
Evolutionary Potential Of A Dispersal-Restricted Species In Response To Climate Change, Lorena Torres Martinez
Open Access Dissertations
Habitat replacement and fragmentation associated with projected climate change pose a critical threat to global biodiversity. Edaphically limited plant species with restricted dispersal abilities will be especially handicapped to track their optimal climate spatially. Instead, the persistence of these species will depend on their capacity to adapt in situ to novel climate regimes. Here I evaluated the evolutionary potential of Lasthenia fremontii, an annual plant species restricted to ephemeral wetlands called vernal pools in California to adapt to the projected patterns of climate change. Across L. fremontii distribution there is a latitudinal gradient in precipitation which, combined with reduced …
Stream Microbial Communities As Potential Indicators Of River And Landscape Disturbance In North-Central Arkansas, Wilson Howard Johnson
Stream Microbial Communities As Potential Indicators Of River And Landscape Disturbance In North-Central Arkansas, Wilson Howard Johnson
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
In the past decade, 29 shale basins have been actively developed across 20 states for extraction of natural gas (NG) via horizontal drilling/hydraulic fracturing (=fracking). This includes ~5000 wells within the Fayetteville shale of north-central Arkansas. Development often impacts both river- and landscapes, and management requires catchment-level evaluations over time, with organismal presence/absence as indicators. For this study next-generation sequencing was used to identify/characterize microbial communities within biofilm of eight Arkansas River tributaries, so as to gauge potential catchment influences. Streams spanned a gradient of landscape features and hydrological flows, with four serving as ‘potentially impacted catchment zones’ (PICZ) and …
Dietary Effects On The Stoichiometry Of Growth, Regulation, And Wastes Of Ozark Stream Insect Detritivores, Halvor Matthew Halvorson
Dietary Effects On The Stoichiometry Of Growth, Regulation, And Wastes Of Ozark Stream Insect Detritivores, Halvor Matthew Halvorson
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
A widespread stressor, anthropogenic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution can increase resource nutrient content and alter animal community composition in freshwater ecosystems. In this dissertation, I used ecological stoichiometry theory to examine effects of diet nutrient content and leaf litter type on growth, regulation, and wastes of aquatic invertebrate detritivores. I tested effects of leaf litter diet carbon:phosphorus (C:P) on growth and stoichiometric regulation of the detritivorous caddisfly Pycnopsyche lepida and used results to determine a threshold elemental ratio of oak litter C:P=1620 that confers peak growth of this species. This empirical, growth-based approach provided a more accurate estimate …