Gill Structure & Function In Parasitic And Non-Parasitic Lampreys: The Effects Of Metamorphosis And Freshwater-Seawater Transfer,
2018
Wilfrid Laurier University
Gill Structure & Function In Parasitic And Non-Parasitic Lampreys: The Effects Of Metamorphosis And Freshwater-Seawater Transfer, Julia Sunga
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Lamprey (Petromyzontiformes) are a phylogenetically ancient group of jawless fishes that begin their lives as filter-feeding larvae (ammocoetes) before undergoing a complex metamorphosis into juvenile lamprey that involves major changes to their internal and external body plan. Some parasitic species, such as the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), migrate to sea following metamorphosis, where they use their oral discs and rasping tongue to attach to and ingest vast quantities of blood from fishes. Thus, sea lamprey have to counter the simultaneous challenges of hyposmoregulation in sea water and the generation of large quantities of ammonia due to the …
An Assessment Of The Plant And Mycorrhizal Community At Steeves Lake Shoreline, Colomac Mine, Nwt,
2018
Wilfrid Laurier University
An Assessment Of The Plant And Mycorrhizal Community At Steeves Lake Shoreline, Colomac Mine, Nwt, Rebekah Hamp, Dr. Kevin Stevens
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
This study focused on the environmental impacts of mining and potential techniques to mitigate them. The goals of this study were to (1) Quantify vegetation and fungal colonization at a remediated mine site in northern Canada, and to determine if there were effects from petroleum hydrocarbon contamination, (2) Determine the response of northern plants inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi to diesel contamination. Mycorrhizal colonization was observed in field collected roots and trends in colonization and vegetation cover suggested that these communities were no longer impacted by residual contamination. Mean hyphal colonization of Elymus trachycaulus roots collected over two years was 47.3±3.8% …
Near-Surface Permafrost Ground Ice Characteristics And Ecological And Physical Drivers Of Transient Layer Ice Content In Discontinuous Permafrost,
2018
Wilfrid Laurier University
Near-Surface Permafrost Ground Ice Characteristics And Ecological And Physical Drivers Of Transient Layer Ice Content In Discontinuous Permafrost, Jason Paul
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Accelerated climate warming in northern regions is causing permafrost degradation, leading to the reduction of the areal extent of permafrost. Permafrost is the foundation for many northern ecosystems and communities, so its thaw can have important ecological and societal consequences. Thaw of ice-rich permafrost can cause subsidence of the ground surface proportional to excess ice content. Terrain settlement can cause ponding or damage to infrastructure. Following a surface disturbance that removes much of the vegetation cover, a shift in the ground thermal regime can cause an increase in active layer thickness and rapid thaw of the top portion of permafrost. …
Morphological And Behavioral Traits Associated With Locomotion In Lizards,
2018
Georgia Southern University
Morphological And Behavioral Traits Associated With Locomotion In Lizards, Chase T. Kinsey
College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations
Morphology, locomotion, and behavior are co-adapted to optimize performance and ultimately fitness. Successfully navigating a complex environment is dictated by an animal’s locomotor behavior, and for some behaviors, its locomotor performance. The locomotor performance of an organism is directly related to the form and function of the structures involved in locomotion such that movement is efficient – that is, minimal loss of energy. The first chapter of this thesis focuses on the effects of obstacle placement and forelimb position on facultative bipedalism. Placing an obstacle beyond a lizard’s acceleration threshold did not affect the frequency of bipedal posture. Furthermore, the …
Crispr Genetic Editing: Paths For Christian Acceptance And Analysis Of In Vivo And In Vitro Efficiency,
2018
Claremont Colleges
Crispr Genetic Editing: Paths For Christian Acceptance And Analysis Of In Vivo And In Vitro Efficiency, Mandeep Sandhu
Scripps Senior Theses
With advancements in CRISPR-cas9 broadening the potential paths for clinical usage of genetic editing, conversations about genetic editing have grown to outside simply scientific communities and into mainstream conversations. This study focuses specifically on Christian discourse of genetic editing and locates four major tensions for many Christians when they think about genetic editing: beginning of life, Creator-human relationship, imago Dei, and stewardship. With these major concerns in mind, I identify epigenetics, somatic cell genetic editing, and in vivo genetic editing research as important research paths to pursue as they can potentially produce techniques that more Christian individuals would feel comfortable …
Establishing Relationships Among Environmental Stressors, Host Immune Status, And Wasting Disease Susceptibility In The Dominant Seagrass Species Thalassia Testudinum,
2018
University of North Florida
Establishing Relationships Among Environmental Stressors, Host Immune Status, And Wasting Disease Susceptibility In The Dominant Seagrass Species Thalassia Testudinum, Paige Joy Duffin
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
A growing body of evidence supports the observation that marine disease outbreaks, especially those caused by opportunistic pathogens, are increasing in frequency and severity. One genus of such pathogens, Labyrinthula, has been identified as the causative agent of seagrass wasting disease, an epidemic that has historically plagued seagrass beds around the world. It is suspected that pathogenicity is intimately linked to the ability of the host to initiate defense responses, but a lack of compelling evidence prevents any meaningful application of preliminary observations. This body of work investigated the roles of host genotype, host immune status, and environmental stressors …
Migratory Patterns And Population Genetic Structure In A Declining Wetland-Dependent Songbird,
2018
Virginia Commonwealth University
Migratory Patterns And Population Genetic Structure In A Declining Wetland-Dependent Songbird, Matthew G. Desaix
Theses and Dissertations
Understanding migratory connectivity is essential for assessing the drivers behind population dynamics and for implementing effective management in migratory species. Genetic markers provide a means to describe migratory connectivity, as well as incorporate population genetic analyses, however genetic markers can be uninformative for species with weak genetic structure. In this study, we evaluate range-wide population genetic structure and migratory connectivity in the prothonotary warbler, Protonotaria citrea, a wetland-dependent neotropical migratory songbird, using high-resolution genetic markers. We reveal regional genetic structure between sampling sites in the Mississippi River Valley and the Atlantic Seaboard with overall weak genetic differentiation among populations …
The Three Creeks Allotment Consolidation: Changing Western Federal Grazing Paradigms,
2018
Utah Department of Agriculture and Food
The Three Creeks Allotment Consolidation: Changing Western Federal Grazing Paradigms, Taylor Payne
Human–Wildlife Interactions
The federal government owns approximately 47% of all land in the western United States. In the state of Utah, about 64% of the land base is managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The government has historically issued permits to owners of private lands to allow the owners to graze their livestock on public lands. The permits (allotments) are generally of 10-year duration and allow for an annual season of use. In some cases, continued and repeated historical annual grazing practices may not be ideal for permit holders and their communities nor …
Life On The Edge: Risk Of Predation Drives Selection Of Habitat And Survival Of Neonates In Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep,
2018
University of Montana
Life On The Edge: Risk Of Predation Drives Selection Of Habitat And Survival Of Neonates In Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, Shannon Forshee
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
Long-term viability of endangered populations requires development of effective management strategies that target the population vital rate with the highest potential to influence population trajectories. When adult survival is high and stable, juvenile recruitment is the vital rate with the greatest potential to improve population trajectories. For my thesis I examined how lactating Sierra Nevada Bighorn sheep (Ovis Canadensis sierra) balance forage and predation risk during the neonatal period. I first identified resource selection strategies employed by lactating females to promote survival of neonates and then determined the primary factors affecting survival of neonates. I found lactating females selected for …
Organizational Effects Of Defeminizing Toxicants: Lessons Learned From An Environmental Sentinel Organism, The Fathead Minnow.,
2017
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Organizational Effects Of Defeminizing Toxicants: Lessons Learned From An Environmental Sentinel Organism, The Fathead Minnow., Jonathan Ali
Theses & Dissertations
Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are chemicals that interfere with hormone function and are increasingly detected in aquatic environments, where they elicit adverse effects from exposed organisms. The toxicological effects of EDCs can be described as either activational (reversible) or organizational (irreversible), where the latter are associated with adverse outcomes in reproductive performance of adult fish. However, few studies have investigated the organizational impacts of anti-estrogenic or “defeminizing” EDCs, e.g. agrichemicals or pharmacological agents, in an environmentally-relevant or “sentinel” species. The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of early-life EDC-initiated changes in estrogenic gene expression on organizational effects …
Role Of Transforming Growth Factor (Tgf) – Β Signaling In Craniofacial Development, Malignancies And Regeneration,
2017
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Role Of Transforming Growth Factor (Tgf) – Β Signaling In Craniofacial Development, Malignancies And Regeneration, Jingpeng Liu
Theses & Dissertations
The transforming growth factor (TGF) – β signaling pathway regulates a diversity of fundamental cellular processes such as cell growth and proliferation, cell differentiation, migration, apoptosis and other biological functions, both during embryogenesis and in adult tissue homeostasis. TGF-β is known to play a critical role in palatal development as in TGF-β knockout murine models, TGF-β deficiency causes cleft palate, a common craniofacial deformity in humans due to the abnormality of growth, elevation or fusion of the two palatal shelves. In order to investigate the mechanisms of how TGF-β regulates palatogenesis, we generated TGF-β3 knockout (-/-) murine models, performed systematic …
American Society Of Parasitologists Newsletter, Volume 39, Number 2, Fall/ Winter, 2017,
2017
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
American Society Of Parasitologists Newsletter, Volume 39, Number 2, Fall/ Winter, 2017, Scott L. Gardner
American Society of Parasitologists: Newsletter
Fall/Winter 2017 issue of the ASP newsletter.
Superresolution Imaging Identifies That Conventional Trafficking Pathways Are Not Essential For Endoplasmic Reticulum To Outer Mitochondrial Membrane Protein Transport.,
2017
George Washington University
Superresolution Imaging Identifies That Conventional Trafficking Pathways Are Not Essential For Endoplasmic Reticulum To Outer Mitochondrial Membrane Protein Transport., Kyle Salka, Shivaprasad Bhuvanendran, Kassandra Wilson, Petros Bozidis, Mansi Mehta, Kristin Rainey, Hiromi Sesaki, George H Patterson, Jyoti K. Jaiswal, Anamaris M. Colberg-Poley
Genomics and Precision Medicine Faculty Publications
Most nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins traffic from the cytosol to mitochondria. Some of these proteins localize at mitochondria-associated membranes (MAM), where mitochondria are closely apposed with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We have previously shown that the human cytomegalovirus signal-anchored protein known as viral mitochondria-localized inhibitor of apoptosis (vMIA) traffics from the ER to mitochondria and clusters at the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM). Here, we have examined the host pathways by which vMIA traffics from the ER to mitochondria and clusters at the OMM. By disruption of phosphofurin acidic cluster sorting protein 2 (PACS-2), mitofusins (Mfn1/2), and dynamin related protein 1 (Drp1), …
24-Month Hiv-Free Survival Among Infants Born To Hiv-Positive Women Enrolled In Option B+ Program In Kigali, Rwanda: The Kabeho Study,
2017
George Washington University
24-Month Hiv-Free Survival Among Infants Born To Hiv-Positive Women Enrolled In Option B+ Program In Kigali, Rwanda: The Kabeho Study, Michelle Gill, Heather J. Hoffman, Dieudonne Ndatimana, Placidie Mugwaneza, Laura Guay, +Several Additional Authors
Genomics and Precision Medicine Faculty Publications
Lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) provision to all pregnant HIV-positive women (“Option B+”) has been recommended by the World Health Organization since 2013, but there remain limited data on the effects of Option B+ on long-term HIV-free survival in breastfeeding HIV-exposed infants. The Kigali Antiretroviral and Breastfeeding Assessment for the Elimination of HIV (Kabeho) study enrolled HIV-positive women from the third trimester of pregnancy to 2 weeks postpartum in 14 heath facilities implementing Option B+ in Kigali, Rwanda. Mother–child pairs in the longitudinal observational cohort were followed until 24 months postpartum, with HIV diagnostic testing at 6 weeks, and 9, 18 …
The Biogeography And Nesting Biology Of Anthophora, With A Revision And Phylogeny Of The Anthophora (Micranthophora),
2017
Utah State University
The Biogeography And Nesting Biology Of Anthophora, With A Revision And Phylogeny Of The Anthophora (Micranthophora), Michael C. Orr
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Bees are necessary pollinators for a vast array of different plants, including many which we rely on for food. In order to grow sufficient crops to feed the world’s growing population, we need to make sure our crops are visited by the most effective possible pollinators. However, this is complicated by the fact that there are over 4,000 bee species in North America, many of which vary in their pollination effectiveness and are difficult to identify. My dissertation’s first two data chapters focus on classifying the species of the xeric solitary bee group Anthophora subgenus Micranthophora, including seven newly …
The Cost Of Roaming Free: Assessing The Effects Of Plant Secondary Metabolites On Diet Selection And Nutritional Condition In A Free-Ranging Generalist Herbivore,
2017
Boise State University
The Cost Of Roaming Free: Assessing The Effects Of Plant Secondary Metabolites On Diet Selection And Nutritional Condition In A Free-Ranging Generalist Herbivore, Daniel Patrick Melody
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
Large vertebrate herbivores have a wide variety of browsing options available. However, most plants contain a suite of plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) that can have toxic effects when ingested. Herbivores must therefore make dietary choices that minimize the potentially harmful effects of PSM ingestion and maximize the use of available nutrients and protein. During winter months, in northern latitudes, climatological factors restrict browsing options and many populations of herbivores must subsist primarily on forage that is relatively poor in nutritional quality and high in PSMs. Many species of herbivores have developed a suite of behavioral and physiological adaptations to cope …
Insights Into The Therapeutic Potential Of Salt Inducible Kinase 1: A Novel Mechanism Of Metabolic Control,
2017
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Insights Into The Therapeutic Potential Of Salt Inducible Kinase 1: A Novel Mechanism Of Metabolic Control, Randi Fitzgibbon
Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)
Salt inducible kinase 1 (SIK1) has been considered a stress-inducible kinase since it was first cloned in 1999. Continued efforts since this time have been dedicated to characterizing the structure and function of SIK1. Such research has laid the ground work for our understanding of SIK1 action and regulation in tissue and stimuli dependent manners. The fundamental findings of this dissertation continue in this tradition and include investigations of SIK1 regulatory mechanisms in skeletal muscle cells, the cellular and physiological effects of SIK1 loss of function in vitro and in vivo, and intracellular metabolic and mitochondrial regulation by this …
Achilles Is A Circadian Clock-Controlled Gene That Regulates The Immune System And Its Rhythmicity In Drosophila,
2017
University of Missouri, St. Louis
Achilles Is A Circadian Clock-Controlled Gene That Regulates The Immune System And Its Rhythmicity In Drosophila, Jiajia Li
Dissertations
Circadian clock is a transcriptional/translational feedback loop that drives the rhythmic expression of downstream mRNAs. Termed “clock-controlled genes,” these molecular outputs of the circadian clock orchestrate cellular, metabolic, and behavioral rhythms. As part of our on-going work to characterize key upstream regulators of circadian mRNA expression, we have identified a novel clock-controlled gene in Drosophila melanogaster, Achilles (Achl), which is rhythmic at the mRNA level in the brain and represses expression of immune response genes, especially anti-microbial peptides in the immune system. Achl knock-down in the brain dramatically elevates expression of crucial immune response genes, including IM1 …
Better Health Through Horticulture: Using Horticulture To Influence Behavior And Reduce Stress,
2017
Northern Michigan University
Better Health Through Horticulture: Using Horticulture To Influence Behavior And Reduce Stress, Rachel Ochylski
All NMU Master's Theses
Horticultural intervention in the form of gardening workshops connect participants to nature while they nurture another living organism. Horticultural intervention provides opportunities to socialize and engage in a meaningful activity, which have been recognized as helpful in the treatment of common mental health difficulties such as depression and anxiety. There is a lack of experimental studies based on quantitative data that focus on the effects of horticulture on holistic human health. The author evaluated the effects of a horticultural intervention on two separate groups, older adults and college students. The behavioral effects of engaging in gardening activities were evaluated using …
Fast Shoreline Erosion Induced By Ship Wakes In A Coastal Lagoon: Field Evidence And Remote Sensing Analysis,
2017
National Research Council of Italy
Fast Shoreline Erosion Induced By Ship Wakes In A Coastal Lagoon: Field Evidence And Remote Sensing Analysis, Luca Zaggia, Giuliano Lorenzetti, Giorgia Manfe, Gian Marco Scarpa, Emanuela Molinaroli, Kevin E. Parnell, John Rapaglia, Maria Gionta, Tarmo Soomere
Biology Faculty Publications
An investigation based on in-situ surveys combined with remote sensing and GIS analysis revealed fast shoreline retreat on the side of a major waterway, the Malamocco Marghera Channel, in the Lagoon of Venice, Italy. Monthly and long-term regression rates caused by ship wakes in a reclaimed industrial area were considered. The short-term analysis, based on field surveys carried out between April 2014 and January 2015, revealed that the speed of shoreline regression was insignificantly dependent on the distance from the navigation channel, but was not constant through time. Periods of high water levels due to tidal forcing or storm surges, …
