Biodiversity Commons^™

New Records Of Mesobuthus Rakhshanii Barahoei, 2022 In Iran (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Ersen A. Yağmur, Zhale Baghernavesi, Zahra Taherkhani, Parsa Akbari, Mohammad Moradi

Euscorpius

Mesobuthus rakhshanii Barahoei, 2022 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) was so far known only from the type locality in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. We give a list of numerous new records of this species from the same province. A map and detailed illustrations are provided.

Reconnecting With Nature One Classroom At A Time, Bianca Apuzzo

Senior Honors Projects

Environmental science is more important to today’s society than it has ever been, and developing basic ecoliteracy is the easiest way we can work towards a more sustainable future. Ecoliteracy allows us to connect deeper to nature and provides us with the information needed to protect and restore our beautiful planet. We are rolling downhill, picking up speed as we go, through a silent mass extinction. The scariest part of it all: nobody seems to care.

In response to the lack of environmental education provided to today’s students, I have created a syllabus for a high school level science course …

Assessing Health Implications Of Monarch Butterfly Populations And Behaviors, Kira Goldman, Kelsey E. Fisher Dr.

Honors Scholar Theses

Pollinator populations have seen massive declines over the past decade due to anthropogenic activity and climate change posing serious threats to the health of humans and ecosystems (Ulyshen & Horn, 2023). As agents responsible for the production of about 35% of micronutrient rich food crops necessary for adequate nutrition to lead healthful lives and prevent nutrition associated diseases, pollinator decline is a public health concern (Aizen et al., 2009). Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) serve as bio indicators for the health of pollinator populations because of their analogous habitat and food resources shared with many other pollinator species, including bees and …

Archaeal Diversity In The Anna's Hummingbird Microbiome, Lauren E. Chance

Honors Scholar Theses

The microbial communities that are present in and on vertebrates are collectively called the microbiome. The composition of a microbiome is dependent upon the host, the environment, and evolution. There has been extensive research on the bacterial composition of host-associated microbiomes, however, there has been much less work on the archaeal composition of host-associated microbiomes. Archaea have previously been assumed to primarily exist in extreme environments, but this may not be true and has been influenced by their generally low abundance and methodological difficulties in detection. It is possible they are consistent members of diverse host-associated microbiomes.

Archaea-specific PCR primers …

Cross-Pollination: Building A Co-Taught Course To Examine Art And Sex Through The Lens Of Botany, Christopher T. Martine, Diamanda A. Zizis, Anna K. Kell

Faculty Journal Articles

Driven by overlapping interests in plants, art, and diversity in sex expression, Anna Kell (Department of Art and Art History) and Chris Martine (Department of Biology) developed a course that integrates the perspectives of a visual artist and a botanist. Art & Sex Through the Lens of Botany seeks to impart the importance of making connections across disciplines and the value of visual literacy across academic lines. The course introduces foundational concepts in each field and encourages students to integrate and explore these different systems of knowledge and their intersections. In addition to developing fluencies related to both general botany …

Vibratory Noise Impacts The Sensory Ecology Of A Funnel-Weaving Spider, Brandi June Pessman

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Animals experience their world through diverse sensory systems, leveraging information from prey, predators, and potential mates to inform behavioral decisions. Environmental noise disrupts information via spectral or amplitude masking, degradation, or distortion, potentially leading to costly errors in responses. Critically, urbanization has accelerated the proliferation of novel noise sources, triggering significant shifts in communication, foraging, and predator-prey dynamics among urban wildlife. While vertebrate studies have illuminated urban animals’ flexibility to anthropogenic acoustic noise, a comprehensive understanding requires broader investigations across diverse animal taxa and sensory modalities. To address these gaps, my dissertation explored the impacts of anthropogenic substrate-borne (vibratory) noise …

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

Honors Theses

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 …

Thamnophis And Their Toxic Relationship: Testing For Intraspecific Venom Variation In The Common Garter Snake, Thamnophis Sirtalis, Grace E. Coppinger

Poster Presentations

Project Objective - Estimate intraspecific venom variation between male and female garter snakes collected from the University of South Alabama of different sizes.

Seeds In The City: Impacts Of Urbanization On Avian Seed Dispersal Networks In The Southern Appalachians, Jody Horton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization is an intensive form of habitat disturbance associated with detrimental effects on biodiversity. However, few studies have investigated its effects on the number, identity and structure of species interactions while considering seasonal fluctuations in communities. Avian seed dispersal is a vital ecosystem service, and the interplay of urbanization and seasonality may impact seed dispersal in ways not predicted by either factor alone. In this study, we evaluate the effects of urbanization and season on avian seed dispersal networks in the southern Appalachians. We found that the number and richness of interactions was unaffected, but the identity of interacting bird …

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: Master Bibliography, Sue Ann Gardner

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

Master bibliography for the open educational resource/open access textbook Concepts in Animal Parasitology, Scott L. Gardner and Sue Ann Gardner, editors, published by Zea Books, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, 2024. This includes the references from literature cited and suggested supplemental reading.

Examining Population Structure Of Cismontane And Desert Populations Of Zebra-Tailed Lizards (Callisaurus Draconoides) Using Mitochondrial And Nuclear Intron Dna., Lauren Nicole Morrison

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Callisaurus draconoides, also known as the Zebra-Tailed lizard, belongs to the family Phrynosomatidae family (Pianka, et al. 1972). C. draconoides is a widespread desert lizard found western North America. In California, this species can be found in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. There are currently several populations that reside in the San Bernardino basin on the cismontane side of the Transverse and Peninsular ranges. These mountain ranges have the potential to have isolated the cismontane populations from their typical desert ranges. In addition, geological passes have the potential to serve as migration corridor between the Deserts and cismontane regions. The …

High Intraspecific Diversity Of Pocillopora Damicornis In Southeast Asia Reflects Adaptive Potential To Climate Change, Maria Lucille Carr

Theses and Dissertations

Marine heatwaves are increasing in intensity and frequency because of increased emissions of greenhouse gases. On coral reefs, warmer temperatures cause coral bleaching, mortality, and shifts in benthic composition. However, coral bleaching responses and survival vary geographically. Several hypotheses may explain such geographical differences in thermal tolerance, including the possibility that some localities may support higher intraspecific diversity than other localities, increasing the likelihood of survival of some individuals through heatwaves. Here we assessed geographic patterns of intraspecific genetic diversity in the ubiquitous coral Pocillopora damicornis. Intraspecific genetic diversity was assessed for 428 sequences across 44 sites in the Pacific …

Phylogenetics And Biogeography Of Appalachian Trechus (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Patricia Wooden

All Dissertations

Insects have long been used as tools for understanding the health of the natural world and how changes to climate, landscape, and human interaction have affected the communities those environments support. The Appalachian Mountains, located in eastern North America, is the oldest mountain range on the continent, and during its lifespan it has supported an abundance of microhabitats and endemic species to fill them. Conservationists must balance the need to preserve the diversity that is known and continue to explore the region for new taxa, often with limited budget and expertise. A genus of small carabids, Trechus Clairville, may aid …

Examining Context Dependency Of Invasion Hypotheses At The Continental Scale Using Riverine Fish Communities, Lily Thompson

All Dissertations

Many well-supported hypotheses seek to explain invasion dynamics, but evidence for common patterns among regions and taxa remains inconclusive and often contradictory. Invasion ecology is fundamentally linked to spatial scale, and discrepancies in results among invasion studies may be attributed, in part, to a failure to fully consider scale dependency. In this dissertation, I investigate the sources of inconsistencies across spatial scales and large geographic extents using riverine fish communities across the conterminous United States. To do so, I tested three main ideas. First, that cross-scale interactions contextualize estimated invasion mechanisms among regions. My results demonstrate that local empirical support …

New Records Of Mesobuthus Mesopotamicus (Penther, 1912) In Iraq And Mesobuthus Faiki Sp. Nov. From Turkey (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Ersen A. Yağmur, František Kovařík, Victor Fet, Ridvan Kurt, Fenik S. Hussen, Azhar M. Al-Khazali, Hamid S. Kachel, Ali A. Al-Fanharawi

Euscorpius

New locality records for Mesobuthus mesopotamicus (Penther, 1912) are given from Iraq. The populations from southeastern Turkey, earlier identified as M. mesopotamicus by Kovařík et al. (2022), are examined and compared with the specimens from the area close to the type locality of M. mesopotamicus. These populations are described as a new species, Mesobuthus faiki sp. nov. Detailed illustrations of both species and a map are given.

An Examination Of The Eastern Nebraska And Western Iowa Flash Flood Event Of 6-7 August 1999, Catherine M. Zapotocny

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: Technical Reports and Related Materials

Flash flooding occurs each summer in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. While 10-inch rains are extraordinary, it is not uncommon to have at least one excessive rain event during the annual convective season. A significant flash flood occurred in east central Nebraska and western Iowa the night of August 6, 1999 into the morning of August 7, 1999. Antecedent hydrologic conditions limited the loss of life, however considerable property damage resulted as the heavy rain fell over the urbanized areas in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

Several flash flood ingredients came together over the area. These meteorological factors are typical …

Using Edna To Assess Impacts Of Oyster Restoration On Ecosystem Biodiversity At A Heavily Impacted Coastal Lagoon, Dominique Di Domenico, Emily Bonacchi, Elizabeth Suter

Molloy Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference

The Great South Bay (GSB), a bar-built, temperate, coastal lagoon on the south shore of Long Island, New York, USA, is a highly modified estuary due to heavy urbanization and suburbanization in the last century. GSB historically provided up to 50% of the nation’s hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) harvest, and is the legal home of the “Blue Point” oyster (eastern oyster; Crassostrea virginica). However, due to overexploitation as well as persistent stress from ongoing nitrogen pollution and harmful algal blooms, shellfish populations are fractions of their original abundances. Restoration efforts in GSB, driven both by community efforts …

Scorpions Of The Horn Of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part Xxxii. Barbaracurus Hofereki Sp. N. From Djibouti, František Kovařík

Euscorpius

Barbaracurus hofereki sp. n. from Djibouti is described and compared with other species of the genus. B. hofereki sp. n. is the only species of the genus with pedipalp movable finger with 8 rows of granules and pectinal tooth count 27–28 in female. Also, its pedipalp chela with very narrow manus (chela length/width ratio 6.07 in female), narrower than in all other African species of the genus. A map of the distribution of the genus in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula is provided.

Exploration Of Enterococcus Faecalis Bacteriophages Diversity: Comprehensive Phylogenetic Analysis And Discovery Isolation Of Enterococcus Faecalis Phage From A Soil Sample In South Florida, Hailey N. Jauernick

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Enterococcus faecalis is a commensal bacterium found in the gastrointestinal tract, oral cavity, and vagina of humans, which can transition to pathogenic states, leading to diverse infections. Many E. faecalis infections are becoming progressively challenging to treat, stemming from the lack of effective antibiotic therapies against its virulence factors, including biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance. Phage therapy emerges as a promising alternative, targeting bacteria with minimal impact on host flora. However, despite phages' ubiquitous presence and potential applications in medicine and biotechnology, their diversity and ecological niches are vastly understudied. Here, we investigated the diversity of sequenced E. faecalis phages …

Benthic Community Response To The Impacts Of Proposed Sediment Diversions In Louisiana Estuaries, Jillian C. Tupitza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sediment diversions designed to mitigate land loss in coastal Louisiana will likely cause ecosystem-wide shifts. The first diversion, planned for Barataria Bay, will divert fresh water and sediment from the Mississippi River into the surrounding wetlands to help them keep pace with high rates of relative sea-level rise (RSLR). Estuarine benthic communities were used in this study as tools to characterize ecological patterns in the context of anticipated salinity changes. I reviewed relevant literature, conducted a two-year survey of Barataria Bay benthos, executed a reciprocal transplant experiment to describe changes that might occur in both community composition and trophic dynamics, …