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Shallow Water Dredging, Center for Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute of Marine Science 2010 William & Mary

Shallow Water Dredging, Center For Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

Rivers & Coast is a periodic publication of the Center for Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The goal of Rivers & Coast is to keep readers well informed of current scientific understanding behind key environmental issues related to watershed rivers and coastal ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay


Sustainability Education As A Catalyst For University And Community Partnerships, Shane Lishawa, Adam Schubel, Alison Varty, Nancy Tuchman 2010 Loyola University Chicago

Sustainability Education As A Catalyst For University And Community Partnerships, Shane Lishawa, Adam Schubel, Alison Varty, Nancy Tuchman

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Universities are uniquely positioned to lead society toward sustainability and their collaborations with community organizations are essential to this transition. The Biodiesel Program at Loyola University Chicago Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy provides a case study of course-based service-learning projects facilitating synergies between the university and the community while concomitantly fostering urban sustainability. This article discusses the program’s design andstructure, and describes specific examples of community partnerships that havebenefited the university, the community, and the environment


Evolution Of Lactate Dehydrogenase Genes In Primates, With Special Consideration Of Nucleotide Organization In Mammalian Promoters, Zack Papper 2010 Wayne State University

Evolution Of Lactate Dehydrogenase Genes In Primates, With Special Consideration Of Nucleotide Organization In Mammalian Promoters, Zack Papper

Wayne State University Dissertations

Concomitant with an increase in brain volume and mass, the allocation of energetic resources to the brain increased during stem anthropoid evolution, leading to humans. One mechanism by which this allocation may have occurred is through greater use of lactate as a neuronal fuel. Both the production of lactate, and conversion to pyruvate for use in aerobic metabolism, are catalyzed, in part, by the tetrameric enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The two primary LDH genes, LDHA and LDHB, confer different rates of substrate turnover to the LDH enzyme, and these rates lend to the argument that LDHA supports anaerobic while LDHB …


Linking Snake Behavior To Nest Predation In A Midwestern Bird Community, Patrick J. Weatherhead, Gerardo L.F. Carfagno, Jinelle H. Sperry, Jeffrey D. Brawn, Scott K. Robinson 2010 Gettysburg College

Linking Snake Behavior To Nest Predation In A Midwestern Bird Community, Patrick J. Weatherhead, Gerardo L.F. Carfagno, Jinelle H. Sperry, Jeffrey D. Brawn, Scott K. Robinson

Biology Faculty Publications

Nest predators can adversely affect the viability of songbird populations, and their impact is exacerbated in fragmented habitats. Despite substantial research on this predator-prey interaction, however, almost all of the focus has been on the birds rather than their nest predators, thereby limiting our understanding of the factors that bring predators and nests into contact. We used radiotelemetry to document the activity of two snake species (rat snakes, Elaphe obsoleta; racers, Coluber constrictor) known to prey on nests in Midwestern bird communities and simultaneously monitored 300 songbird nests and tested the hypothesis that predation risk should increase for nests when …


Photobiological Studies Of Ross Sea Phytoplankton, Sasha Tozzi 2010 College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Photobiological Studies Of Ross Sea Phytoplankton, Sasha Tozzi

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The Ross Sea polynya is characterized by high spatial and temporal variability and by an annual cycle of sea ice retreat, water column stratification, large phytoplankton blooms, and months of complete darkness. This region is also highly susceptible to increasingly changing climatic conditions that will significantly affect the hydrography, iron supply, primary production patterns and carbon cycling. This project focused on analyzing how differences in photosynthetic traits between the two major bloom-forming functional groups in the polynya, diatoms and the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, and investigate if these differences can explain their dominance and succession. The study was conducted as part …


Review: Back To Darwin, Timothy Shanahan 2010 Loyola Marymount University

Review: Back To Darwin, Timothy Shanahan

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.


Systematics Of The Genus Ptychadena Boulenger, 1917 (Anura: Ptychadenidae) From Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Katrina Marie Weber 2010 University of Texas at El Paso

Systematics Of The Genus Ptychadena Boulenger, 1917 (Anura: Ptychadenidae) From Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Katrina Marie Weber

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis increases the scope of previous phylogenetic analyses that revealed high levels of genetic differentiation within the anuran genus Ptychadena. Herein, I increase sampling of Central African populations of Ptychadena by over six times to examine their relationships to other African populations and to search for cryptic species. This study represents the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Ptychadena to date. A total of three mitochondrial (12S, 16S, and cyt b) and two nuclear (RAG1 and rhodopsin) genes were sequenced for 67 specimens of Ptychadena. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses were conducted. These analyses revealed …


Bioavailability Of Biosolids- And Consumer Product-Associated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (Pbde) Flame Retardants To Terrestrial Invertebrates, Michael O. Gaylor 2010 College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Bioavailability Of Biosolids- And Consumer Product-Associated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (Pbde) Flame Retardants To Terrestrial Invertebrates, Michael O. Gaylor

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The primary objectives of this research were therefore to evaluate polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) bioavailability to ecologically distinct soil invertebrates exposed to Penta-BDE-treated consumer polyurethane foam (PUF) products and biosolid products with incurred PBDEs. In laboratory bioassays, earthworms (Eisenia fetida) bioaccumulated SigmaPBDEs (47+99+100+183) up to 11,000 mug/kg lipid after 28 days from a mixture of artificial soil and anaerobically-digested sludge biosolid (ADB). Earthworms also bioaccumulated SigmaPBDEs (47+99+100+153+154+183) up to 13,500 and 838,000 mug/kg lipid after 28 d from a mixture of artificial soil and composted sludge biosolid (CB) and Penta-BDE-spiked artificial soil (SAS), respectively. No previous lab studies on bioaccumulation …


Persistent Organic Pollutants(Pops) As Tracers Of Environmental Change And Antarctic Seabird Ecology, Heidi N. C. Geisz 2010 College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Persistent Organic Pollutants(Pops) As Tracers Of Environmental Change And Antarctic Seabird Ecology, Heidi N. C. Geisz

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Antarctic seabirds including Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae), south polar skuas (Catharacta maccormicki), southern giant petrels (Macronectes gigantus) are high trophic level predators that accumulate persistent organic pollutants (POPs) present in the food webs in which they forage. Little is known about the levels of POPs in some Antarctic organisms (e.g. southern giant petrels), as well as the long-term trends of POPs in the Antarctic ecosystem. Samples from all three seabird species were collected post mortem, including eggs, from the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and in the Ross Sea throughout the austral summer breeding seasons of 2004--2006. The samples were analyzed …


Assessing The Functional Status Of Created Wetlands In Eastern Virginia Via A Soil And Vegetative Developmental Trajectory, Sara Elizabeth Kreisel 2010 College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences

Assessing The Functional Status Of Created Wetlands In Eastern Virginia Via A Soil And Vegetative Developmental Trajectory, Sara Elizabeth Kreisel

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.


Canopy Demographics At The Firestone Reserve, Costa Rica, Gizelle M. Pera 2010 Claremont McKenna College

Canopy Demographics At The Firestone Reserve, Costa Rica, Gizelle M. Pera

CMC Senior Theses

Though Costa Rica has suffered numerous bouts of deforestation to its valuable tropical rainforest area, especially in the 1970s, it has become a leader in its efforts to regenerate and restore its rainforest. However, studies and protocols for the assessment of forest regeneration are urgently required. Research has shown that the percentage of light penetrating the canopy floor, or light fraction, is a good indicator of rainforest maturity. In this study, digital rectilinear photography and a global positioning system receiver were used to survey the Firestone Reserve inCosta Rica in order to measure the light fraction differences between primary/riparian …


How Birds Combat Ectoparasites, Dale H. Clayton, Jennifer A. H. Koop, Christopher W. Harbison, Brett R. Moyer, Sarah E. Bush 2010 University of Utah

How Birds Combat Ectoparasites, Dale H. Clayton, Jennifer A. H. Koop, Christopher W. Harbison, Brett R. Moyer, Sarah E. Bush

Harold W. Manter Laboratory: Library Materials

Birds are plagued by an impressive diversity of ectoparasites, ranging from feather-feeding lice, to feather-degrading bacteria. Many of these ectoparasites have severe negative effects on host fitness. It is therefore not surprising that selection on birds has favored a variety of possible adaptations for dealing with ectoparasites. The functional significance of some of these defenses has been well documented. Others have barely been studied, much less tested rigorously. In this article we review the evidence--or lack thereof--for many of the purported mechanisms birds have for dealing with ectoparasites. We concentrate on features of the plumage and its components, as well …


The Delimitation Of Flammulina Fennae, Soňa Ripková, Karen Hughes, Slavomír Adamčík, Viktor Kučera, Katarína Adamčíková 2010 University of Tennessee, Knoxville

The Delimitation Of Flammulina Fennae, Soňa Ripková, Karen Hughes, Slavomír Adamčík, Viktor Kučera, Katarína Adamčíková

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Multivariate morphometric analyses of micromorphological characters measured on 35 specimens of Flammulina fennae and related species show that only a combination of spore dimensions and ixohyphidia characters are suitable for delimitation of this species. In order to confirm species identifications based on micromorphology, ribosomal ITS DNA sequences were obtained and compared with those previously deposited in GenBank, and phylogenetic analyses were performed using an ITS dataset of all known Flammulina species. All six specimens morphologically determined as F. fennae were identified by molecular data. Two of twelve specimens morphologically assigned to F. velutipes had F. elastica sequences. One ITS sequence …


Assessing Genetic Differentiation Among Populations Of The Invasive Plant Impatiens Glandulifera In Maine, Jordan R. Schoonover 2010 Colby College

Assessing Genetic Differentiation Among Populations Of The Invasive Plant Impatiens Glandulifera In Maine, Jordan R. Schoonover

Honors Theses

The annual herbaceous plant Impatiens glandulifera Royle is native to the Himalayas and is a significant invasive species in Europe. In the past century, it was introduced to the United States, where it has become established in 12 states. This study evaluated genetic differentiation among four Maine populations, to address a theory that posits hybridization of distinct lineages as a trigger for invasiveness. Regions of microsatellite repeats were evaluated at two polymorphic loci for 41 plants sampled from the four populations. A striking finding was that the observed heterozygosity was substantially higher than the heterozygosity expected from random combination of …


Theory Of Island Biogeography On A Microscopic Scale: Organic Aggregates As Islands For Aquatic Pathogens, M. M. Lyons, J. E. Ward, Holly Gaff, R. E. Hicks, J. M. Drake, Fred C. Dobbs 2010 Old Dominion University

Theory Of Island Biogeography On A Microscopic Scale: Organic Aggregates As Islands For Aquatic Pathogens, M. M. Lyons, J. E. Ward, Holly Gaff, R. E. Hicks, J. M. Drake, Fred C. Dobbs

OES Faculty Publications

Four predictions of the MacArthur-Wilson theory of island biogeography were evaluated to assess the degree to which detrital-based organic aggregates (e.g. marine snow, organic detritus, and bioflocs) may provide a favorable microhabitat (i.e. an 'island') for bacteria in general, and specifically aquatic pathogens. We demonstrate the theory's relevance for microbial communities in aquatic environments by describing the community metabolic response and functional diversity of individual organic aggregates while documenting the persistence of potential pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria. Our results support the 4 predictions, including a significant species-area relationship, consistency of species richness at equilibrium, non-zero level of species turnover …


The Vascular Flora Of Greater San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico, Sula E. Vanderplank 2010 Claremont Graduate University

The Vascular Flora Of Greater San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico, Sula E. Vanderplank

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The plants of San Quintín (Baja California, Mexico) were documented through intensive fieldwork and the collection of herbarium specimens to create a checklist of species. This region is home to a diverse flora with high levels of local endemism and many rare plants. The flora documented in this study was compared to historical records from the region and shows the impact of agriculture and urbanization on the plants, including several extirpated species. A study of the perennial vegetation using a 1 km grid provides species distribution data for 140 native species, which were assessed to highlight areas of significant species …


Ecological Invasion In Spatially Competitive Systems, Andrew James Allstadt 2010 University at Albany, State University of New York

Ecological Invasion In Spatially Competitive Systems, Andrew James Allstadt

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Although the term invasion conjures images of invasive species, the dynamics of rarity is fundamental to many ecological processes. The community-level effects of invasion are determined by interactions between individuals in the system. Competition is most intense between neighboring individuals, which may generate spatial organization that can affect the outcome and time scale of an invasion. In this dissertation, I use analytic and simulation models of invasion to study preemptive competition between a rare invading type, and a resident that already occupies the system. In Chapter 1, I give motivation for these studies, and then introduce a spatially structured, individual-based …


The Transition Zone: Impact Of Riverbanks On Emergent Dragonfly Nymphs. Implications For Riverbank Restoration And Management, Kirsten Hope Martin 2010 Antioch University of New England

The Transition Zone: Impact Of Riverbanks On Emergent Dragonfly Nymphs. Implications For Riverbank Restoration And Management, Kirsten Hope Martin

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The use of riprap in the restoration and stabilization of riverine landscapes is an issue of concern for many ecologists. While current methods of bank stabilization, especially those involving the placement of rocks (riprap) along the waterline, are effective in controlling erosion their presence changes habitat components (slope, substrate composition, near-shore river velocity) at the river-land interface. The additional impacts of river current, water temperature, soil composition, slope, and water level fluctuation, may further imperil emerging nymphs. The purpose of this research is to document the effects of riprap, location (upriver or downriver of hydroelectric intake/outtake facilities), water level fluctuation, …


Current State Of Ixodidae Research In Mongolia, Daniel Kiefer, K. Pfister, D. Tserennorov, G. Bolormaa, D. Otgonbaatar, Ravčigijn Samjaa, E. G. Burmeister, Mathias S. Kiefer 2010 Ludwig-Maximilians-University

Current State Of Ixodidae Research In Mongolia, Daniel Kiefer, K. Pfister, D. Tserennorov, G. Bolormaa, D. Otgonbaatar, Ravčigijn Samjaa, E. G. Burmeister, Mathias S. Kiefer

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Our research presents the Ixodidae-fauna in Mongolia. The current taxonomic state in Mongolia shows 19 Ixodidae taxa extracted in 308 locations from 115 bird and mammal species. In 1980, the species Ixodes persulcatus SCHULZE, 1930 and Ixodes berlesei Birula, 1895 were detected in Inget Tolgoi and Ixodes laguri OLENEV, 1929 on Meriones unguiculatus 10 km southeast of Ulaanbaatar for the first time. In 2000 the species Haemaphysalis concinna Koch, 1844 was detected in the Selenge-river area and Argas (Argas) vulgaris FILIPPOVA, 1961 was detected in the Gobi area. From the collection of M. and A. STUBBE 1 N …


New Species In The Genus Monoecocesuts (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae) From Neotropical Rodents (Caviidae And Sigmodontidae), Terry Haverkost, Scott Lyell Gardner 2010 University of Nebraska - Lincoln

New Species In The Genus Monoecocesuts (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae) From Neotropical Rodents (Caviidae And Sigmodontidae), Terry Haverkost, Scott Lyell Gardner

Scott L. Gardner Publications

Anoplocephalid cestodes have a worldwide distribution, but relatively few species are known from South American rodents. By examining the collections of the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology and the United States National Parasite Collection, 6 new species of Monoecocestus Beddard, 1914, are described, along with a redescription of Monoecocestus mackiewiczi Schmidt and Martin, 1978, based on the type specimens. The discussion includes commentary about uterine development, an important taxonomic character of the family, the vaginal dilation in immature segments (a character of potential taxonomic importance), and the implication of host usage to the evolutionary history and biogeography of species …


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