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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Using The Oxford Nanopore Minion (A Portable Dna Sequencer) For Microbial Ecology, Lee Kerkhof Sep 2017

Using The Oxford Nanopore Minion (A Portable Dna Sequencer) For Microbial Ecology, Lee Kerkhof

Sustainability Seminar Series

An approach utilizing the MinIon to sequence bacterial ribosomal operons within natural samples has been developed. Bacterial rRNA operons were amplified from 6 samples employing a mixture of farm soil and bioreactor DNA in known concentrations. Replicate extraction/amplifications (n=4) yielded over 10,000 2D sequences which were analyzed using a simplified data analysis pipeline based on NCBI Blast and assembly with Geneious software. The method could detect over 1000 operational taxonomic units in a quantitative manner. An iterative assembly scheme was developed to re- construct those rRNA operons with > 30x coverage from 30 OTUs among the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and …


How Strongly Do Oysters Stick?, Nicolás M. Morato, Andrés M. Tibabuzo, Jonathan J. Wilker Aug 2017

How Strongly Do Oysters Stick?, Nicolás M. Morato, Andrés M. Tibabuzo, Jonathan J. Wilker

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Biological adhesives are a type of interfacial material that has incredible potential to generate new biomimetic compounds that can replace current strong, but toxic, adhesives. Therefore, a study of the chemical composition and mechanical properties of those bio-adhesives is necessary. However, in the case of oysters, despite known chemical characterization of the adult’s adhesive, there are almost no studies on its mechanical properties. Furthermore, there is no available information on the adhesive properties of spat (oysters in their larvae state). Herein, we present the first mechanical characterization of the spat adhesive, measuring its adhesion strength by hydrodynamic determination using a …


Changes In Cormorant Populations In The Strait Of Georgia, British Columbia, 1955-2015, Harry R. Carter, Trudy A. Chatwin, Mark C. Drever Jan 2017

Changes In Cormorant Populations In The Strait Of Georgia, British Columbia, 1955-2015, Harry R. Carter, Trudy A. Chatwin, Mark C. Drever

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Between 1987 and 2000, nesting populations of Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus; PECO) and Double-crested Cormorant (P. auritus; DCCO) declined in the Strait of Georgia, BC. This northern section of the Salish Sea is a rapidly urbanizing area, and piscivorous birds are important indicators of ecosystem health. To update population status, we conducted a complete survey of 35 PECO and 23 DCCO colonies in July 2014 and opportunistic surveys of some colonies between 2001 through 2015. The PECO population decreased from ~2100-2400 nests in 1959-1987 to ~1100 nests by about 2000, and then rose slightly …


Advances In Salish Sea Acoustic Telemetry: 2015 Array Deployments And Promising Transmitter Performance, Erin L. Rechisky, David W. Welch, Aswea D. Porter, Paul Winchell Jan 2017

Advances In Salish Sea Acoustic Telemetry: 2015 Array Deployments And Promising Transmitter Performance, Erin L. Rechisky, David W. Welch, Aswea D. Porter, Paul Winchell

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The first fish tracking arrays were deployed in the Salish Sea over a decade ago. These arrays have yielded a rich data set which have provided the first direct estimates of early marine-survival and migratory behavior for acoustic-tagged juvenile sockeye, Chinook, Coho and steelhead >130 mm in fork length (FL). In spring of 2015, as part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, the Ocean Tracking Network and Kintama Research deployed additional arrays in the Discovery Islands and Johnstone Strait (north of the Strait of Georgia) to provide higher resolution survival data. These new arrays use …


Stronger Together: The Cross-Cultural Coalition To Stop Fossil Fuel Exports In The Salish Sea, Margaret Allen Jan 2017

Stronger Together: The Cross-Cultural Coalition To Stop Fossil Fuel Exports In The Salish Sea, Margaret Allen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A commonly observed paradox in conservation is that restriction of people’s access to nature and natural resources may protect ecosystem health, but sometimes decreases the wellbeing of local people and can invite conflict and reduce people’s willingness to protect resources. At a middle ground between complete protection and unrestricted commercial use is ecosystem-based management (EBM), which strives to maximize the overall wellbeing of both people and ecosystems. An important domain of human wellbeing to track for the purposes of EBM is resource access, or the ability to gain and maintain uses and benefits of the natural environment. Access does not …