Weekly collections were conducted from May to December, 2007 (153 trap nights, total) in Denton, Texas, in and around large storm drains and overpass drainage facilities in residential and non-residential areas, using Centers for Disease Control (CDC) light traps and gravid traps. A total of 1964 mosquitoes were collected, representing 24 species within 6 genera: Aedes, Anopheles, Culiseta, Culex, Psorophora, and Uranotaenia. Culex was the most abundant genus, representing 75% of all mosquitoes collected; Aedes was the second most abundant, representing 12 % of all mosquitoes collected. Cx. quinquefasciatus was the dominant species collected via gravid traps; Cx. (Melanoconion) species were the dominant species collected via CDC light traps. Data of gravid traps and light traps were analyzed separately using nonparametric correlation analysis, comparing environmental data and physical characteristics to total abundance of mosquitoes. There was no significant correlation found when comparing the three dominant species collected in light traps (unidentified Cx. (Melanoconion) sp, Cx. quinquefasciatus, and Ae. vexans) to environmental characteristics and physical characteristics. Analysis of Cx. quinquefasciatus collected in gravid traps indicated no significant correlation between abundance, environmental data, and physical characteristics. Linear regression models were analyzed to determine if either environmental variables or physical characteristics of the …

Conservation corridors, areas of land connecting patches of natural land cover, are frequently cited and implemented as a restorative strategy to counteract fragmentation. Current corridor ecology focuses on experimental corridor systems or designed and built conservation corridors to assess functionality. Such systems and designs are typically short, straight swaths of homogenous land cover with unambiguous transitions between patches. Quantifying the degree to which amorphous landscape configurations, tortuosity, and heterogeneity of land cover and land uses within the corridor has on functional connectedness is a crucial yet overlooked component of corridor efficacy studies. Corridor literature lacks a robust and repeatable methodology for delineating existing landscape elements, recognizing arbitrary edges, and identifying the start and end of ambiguous transitions between the patches and corridor. Using a set of landscapes being studied as part of a global assessment of corridor efficacy, I designed a workflow that standardizes the boundary of corridor-patch interfaces. The proposed method is a quantitative and repeatable approach that minimizes the subjectivity in corridor delineations. This research investigates the degree to which the existence of a corridor modifies the structural and functional connectivity between patches connected by a corridor compared to an intact reference area.

Six sites within the Denton and Hickory Creek watersheds were sampled over three years to assess the impact of seasonal intermittent stream conditions on the ichthyofauna. An integrated approach using field and laboratory techniques was employed to evaluate the responses of the fishes.

This work is intended to be used as a teaching tool in conjunction with the text cited. It is written in outline format, highlighting the major concepts of each pertinent chapter. In this format, the concepts can be expanded upon at the discretion of the instructor. This work is to be used as a guide for lecture. The basic concepts contained in the outline are in such a format as to be able to work in more information regarding the subject matter if needed. The instructor can work from this outline as a starting point. Major topics in the chapters are highlighted, making lecture notes for the instructor easier to do.

Superbursts (SBs) are large, seemingly spontaneous activity fluctuations often encountered in high density neural networks in vitro. Little effort has been put forth to define and analyze SBs which are paroxysmal bursting discharges. Through qualitative and quantitative means, I have described specific occurrences of superbursting activity. A complex of paroxysmal bursting has been termed a "superburst episode," and each individual SB is a "superburst event" which is comprises a fine burst structure. Quantitative calculations (employing overall spike summations and coefficient of variation (CV) calculations), reveal three distinct phases. Phase 1 is a "build up" phase of increasingly strong, coordinated bursting with an average of a 17.6% ± 13.7 increase in activity from reference. Phase 2, the "paroxysmal" phase, is comprised of massive coordinated bursting with high frequency spike content. Individual spike activity increases by 52.9% ± 14.6. Phase 3 is a "recovery phase" of lower coordination and an average of a 50.1% ± 35.6 decrease in spike production from reference. SBs can be induced and terminated by physical manipulation of the medium. Using a peristaltic pump with a flow rate of 0.4ml/min, superbursting activity ceases approximately 28.3 min after the introduction of flow. Alternatively, upon cessation of medium flow superbursting …

This thesis examines the evolution, applications, and statistical interpretations of DNA typing as a tool in the field of forensic science as well as in our criminal justice system. The most controversial aspect of DNA typing involves the determination of how likely it is that two people share the same DNA profile. This involves the use of population genetics and databases of allelic frequencies as well as some assumptions about population structuring.

The purpose of this study was to correlate the Vegetation of the Woodbine Sands with the edaphic factors. In the laboratory an analysis of the edephic factors was made of the twenty-two soil types collected from the three formations. The results of these and other analysis are shown in tables and graphs. The results indicate that the vegetational cover of an area that is uniform in its origin and in its resident soil factors is determined by the edaphic factors present.

The purpose of this study is to revise the genus Suwallia and to evaluate the potential taxonomic importance of adeagal and other genitalic characters, adult pigment patterns and egg characters. The revision concentrates on western North American species while providing coverage of all species, except Suwallia asiatica Zhiltzova and Lavanidova where only presumed females have been available for study. Communication and mate locating behaviors in adult stoneflies are critical for life cycle completion and species perpetuation. Drumming signals are known for numerous species of Plecoptera, but mate searching patterns and specifically, if or how vibrational communication is utilized for locating mates are virtually unknown for all stonefly species. I conducted field or laboratory studies of three species to elucidate mate searching patterns and how vibrational communication is used for locating mates. The species studied included a bushtopper, Suwallia pallidula (Banks); a ground scrambler, Claassenia sabulosa (Banks); and treetopper, Perlinella drymo (Newman). The "fly-tremulate-search". "rock to rock" and "fly-drum-search" search patterns exhibited by these species are described, as well as how vibrational communication is used for mate finding. Vibrational signal production by tremulation is reported for the first time in Suwallia, and for only the second time Plecoptera.

This investigation was undertaken in order to evaluate the United States Soil Conservation Service program of grassland recovery on the land utilization project in Wise County, Texas.

The problem of using a state adopted textbook written to apply to a large body of students with varying interests and needs was overcome by using a detailed syllabus that arranged course content in a meaningful sequence that appealed to student interest. The outlined syllabus prepared a two semester life science curriculum to be used by the teacher to guide lesson planning. Both semesters were divided into three units each. Materials included in the syllabus were given to actual student groups in real classroom settings. Since hands on learning was an important part of classroom instruction, two laboratory sections were included in the appendices to be used with the syllabus.

In July of 1999, I wrote to 24 Texas junior and community colleges (and one four-year institution) describing my thesis agenda of a general biology lecture and laboratory syllabus for introductory biology students. I requested the titles and authors of the general biology textbooks and laboratory manuals they were currently using, the publishers of these texts, and the edition of said texts. I then contacted publishers of the various textbooks who, in turn, directed me to the Dallas-area representatives for further inquiries. I assimilated the various authors' general biology topics into a two-semester syllabus of lecture and one semester of laboratory. The document is not a text manuscript, but an all-inclusive listing of a general biology syllabus broken down by subject.

The Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve is located at the southern tip of South America. This large archipelago is considered one of the last pristine areas left on the world. Despite it being an unpopulated area with most of the native forest cover intact, it has not been exempt from biological invasions, one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss. Three species that naturally interact in their native range in North America – American beavers (Castor canadensis), muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), and American mink (Neovison vison) – were independently introduced in this remote region. In my dissertation, I investigated (i) the hypothesis of niche expansion in the invasive mink population on Navarino Island towards terrestrial habitats; (ii) potential mink impact on breeding success of forest-bird populations; (iii) habitat selection of small-rodent species and their perception on the mink's novel predation risk; and (iv) the dynamics of multiple-species invasions under the hypothesis of an invasional meltdown. Additionally, I worked within the framework of environmental philosophy. I provide an example of combining ecological and cultural dimensions within the International Long-Term Ecological Research network to disentangle the ethical dilemmas that surround the management of invasive species. I finally proposed a management plan based on the …

A pyrA mutation in Pseudomonas putida was isolated using transposon mutagenesis for the first time. Transposon Tn5 was used to inactivate the pyrA gene for carbamoylphosphate synthetase in these mutants. Accordingly, these mutants were defective in pyrimidine and arginine biosynthesis. The suicide vector, pM075, from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, was used to introduce the transposon into the cells. Tn5 was subsequently used to supply homology so that the plasmid pM075 could be introduced in its entirety into the Pseudomonas putida chromosome at the locus of the Tn5 insertion in the pyrA gene. Consequently, these strains exhibited high frequency of recombination and were capable of chromosome mobilization.

This study identifies the biogeographic factors that structure small mammal communities on mountains of the Colorado Plateau and adjacent regions. Forty six isolated ranges were characterized across a 5-state study area encompassing the Colorado Plateau, including the central high plateaus of Utah and the Basin and Range Province (i.e. the Great Basin and mountains of Arizona and New Mexico). Presence/absence data of 25 montane mammal species were used to explore the interactions between historical and ecological processes affecting local and regional diversity patterns. Multivariate analyses, such as non-metric dimensional scaling, were used to explore factors which influence community composition. Results of these analyses revealed the Colorado River as a significant biogeographic barrier that affects montane mammal community structure. MtDNA cytochrome b sequence variation was analyzed among populations of the long-tailed vole, Microtus longicaudus, sampled from five interior ranges of the Colorado Plateau- Abajo, LaSal, Henry, and Chuska Mts., and Boulder Mountain of the Aquarius Plateau-and analyzed using traditional phylogenetic approaches (parsimony and likelihood) as well as nested clade analysis. Results support previous documentation of a major east-west phylogeographic break occurring between populations southeast of the Colorado River (eastern Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico) and all other western populations, which …

The south-central United States serves as an important biogeographical link and dispersal corridor between Nearctic and Neotropical elements of western hemisphere odonate faunas. Its species are reasonably well known because of substantial collections, but there has been no concerted effort to document the extent of biodiversity and possible geographic affinities of dragonflies and damselflies of this region. The recent discoveries of Argia leonorae Garrison, Gomphus gonzalezi Dunkle and Erpetogomphus heterodon Garrison from southern and western Texas and northern Mexico suggest that Odonata species remain to be discovered in this area, particularly from far south Texas and northern Mexico. I have documented a total of 12,515 records of Odonata found in 408 counties within the south-central U.S. A total of 73 species of damselflies and 160 species of dragonflies was revealed in the region. The 233 (197 in Texas) Odonata species are distributed among 10 families and 66 genera. Illustrated family, generic, and species-level keys are provided. Since the beginning of this work in the Fall of 1993, one species has been added each to the Louisiana and Oklahoma faunas, and 12 species have been added, previously unreported from Texas, including four new to the U.S. The area of highest Odonata …

In the extensive and remote sub-Antarctic forests of South America, birds are the dominant terrestrial vertebrates. Despite considerable efforts to understand the ecology of birds breeding in these forests, our current knowledge for many species is still incomplete. During three breeding seasons (2014 – 2017), I studied the breeding ecology of the five most abundant open-cup forest-dwelling passerines in the sub-Antarctic forest of Navarino Island, Chile (55°04′S, 67°40′W). There were differences in some of the breeding strategies used by birds breeding on Navarino Island versus conspecific populations breeding at lower latitudes. Milvago chimango was the main nest predator of open-cup nesting forest passerines, and the main cause of nest failure. In addition, I found that species built their nests in sites with higher density and taller understory; however, these two factors decreased their nest survival. This mismatch could be due to a change in depredation risk on Navarino Island, and thus, passerines breeding there may be in an ecological trap. In addition, using light-level geolocators, I determined that the migratory connectivity of Elaenia albiceps is weak as a result of the large spatial spread of individuals on the wintering ground, and that the distances among individuals on the breeding grounds …

Drumming behavior is described for the first time in 33 North American Plecoptera species, and signals of an additional five species, Pteronarcys pictetii, Acroneuria abnormis, Paragnetina media, Clioperla clio and Isogenoides zionensis, are further detailed. An out-group comparison of behavioral characters in all 104 world species whose drumming is known showed that the behavior is more advanced in the Arctoperlaria Group Systellognatha than in the Group Euholognatha. In general, tapping, monophasy, touching, sequenced exchange and less than 50 taps/answer are ancestral states, and rubbing, grouping, phasing, tremulation, interspersed exchange and equal or more than 50 taps/answer are derived states. There has been some co-evolution between abdominal structure and drumming behavior. Scanning Electron Micrographs of 30 species showed that the primitive state of tapping is ascociated with three classes of abdominal structure: (1) absence of derived structures, (2) lobes or vesicles, and (3) hammers. The derived behavior of rubbing, however, occurs only in species with derived structures, and is predominant in species having vesicles and hammers. Drumming can be used as a line of evidence to aid in defining genera and species, since the behavior has a variable degree of specificity or exclusiveness in all species, particularly in groups of species …

Environmental air pollution is one risk factor associated with the onset and progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). In this project, we investigated the effects of ubiquitous traffic-generated pollutants, namely a mixture of gasoline and diesel vehicle exhaust (MVE), on signaling pathways associated with the pathophysiology of MS in the central nervous system (CNS) of either ovary intact (ov+) or ovariectomized (ov-) female Apolipoprotein (Apo) E-/-. Specifically, we investigated whether a subchronic inhalation exposure to MVE (200 PM μg/m3; 6 hr/d, 7d/wk, 30d) vs. filtered air (FA) controls altered myelination, T cell infiltration, blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity, or production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and expression of neuroinflammation markers in the CNS ov+ and ov- Apo E-/- mice. Our results revealed that inhalation exposure to MVE resulted in increased demyelination and CD4+ and CD8+ T cell infiltration, associated with alterations in BBB integrity. Disruption of the BBB was evidenced by decreased tight junction (TJ) protein expression, increased matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) activity, and increased permeability of immunoglobin (Ig) G, which were more pronounced in the MVE ov- group. Moreover, MVE-exposure also promoted ROS and neuroinflammatory signaling in the CNS of ov+ and ov- mice, compared to FA groups. To analyze mechanisms that …

The phylogenetics of eight species of the Peromyscus truei and P. boylii species groups from 15 populations were analyzed based on mitochondrial DNA sequence differentiation, using 13 hexanucleotide specific restriction enzymes. P. difficilis, P. nasutus, and P. attwateri were found to be members of the same clade. P. leucopus was not found to be closely related to any of the species of the boylii or truei species groups. Phylogenetic interpretations for the remaining species differed based on Wagner and Dollo parsimony analyses. P. true appears to be most closely related to P. gratus based on Wagner parsimony and the phenetic analysis, while the relationship of P. gratus to other species could not be resolved based on Dollo parsimony.

Gray gulls Larus modestus are unique among birds of northern Chile as the only species nesting in the interior Atacama Desert, and the only seagull nesting far (30 - 100 km) from surface water. During breeding-nesting (August - February) gray gulls congregate on the coast of northern Chile where they feed and initiate courtship. As early as August, breeding pairs commute daily to the inner desert to establish nesting territories, round-trip distances of 60-200 Km. During incubation (30 days) and brooding (7 days) adults alternate daily foraging flights to the coast. Afterwards, both adults forage daily for their chick(s) until fledging (ca. 60 days). Foraging flights and thermoregulatory costs during the period of maximal solar radiation, when ground temperatures may reach 61 C in the day and drop to 2 C at night, have selected for adaptations which minimize those costs: tolerance of hypothermia and hyperthermia; dark plumage; low egg-shell water vapor conductance; low standard metabolic rate; elaborate repertory of thermoregulatory behavior which allow adults to take advantage of microclimatic variations in the desert and minimize costs relative to a sympatric congenor, Larus belcheri scheduling foraging flights to take advantage of optimal atmospheric conditions and presence of forage fish (anchovies) …

Absence of functional phenylalanine hydroxylase results in phenylketonuria (PKU). Viable treatments remain few, expensive and secondary conditions such as osteopenia occur in most PKU patients. Objective 1: Given the recently described roles of gut microbes to aid host digestion, an orally administered genetically engineered probiotic as the delivery vehicle for enzyme replacement therapy was created. The engineered probiotic, pHENOMMenal, produced phenylalanine ammonia lyase with significant production of trans-cinnamate (phenylalanine cleavage product) in vitro and resulted in a reduction of 515 μM in blood phenylalanine when fed to PKU animals for 14 days (from 2307µM ± 264µM to 1792µM ± 261µM, n = 6, P < 0.05). The control probiotic produced no change in blood phenylalanine. Thus, pHENOMMenal treatment in PKU mice demonstrated engineered microbes could compensate for a metabolic deficiency of the host. Objective 2: Evaluate the PAHenu2 mouse model of PKU for a genetic discrepancy causing ocular enlargement and delayed development observed only after the PAHenu2 mutation was crossed to the C57BL/6J mouse. When compared to healthy littermates, ELISA indicated a consistent but insignificant decrease in plasma IGF-1 and an increase in ocular IGF-1 in PKU animals. SNP screening demonstrated a differential inheritance of IGF-1 alleles in healthy and …

This study investigated whether oxLDL and/or angiotensin (Ang) II signaling pathways mediate traffic-generated air pollution- exposure induced alterations in blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity and permeability in a healthy wild type (C57Bl/6) mouse model; additionally, whether these outcomes are exacerbated by a high fat-diet investigated. An environmentally relevant concentration of a mixture of vehicle engine exhaust (MVE) was used. To investigate the hypotheses, 12 wk old male C57Bl/6 mice on either a high fat (HF) or low fat (LF) diet were randomly assigned to inhalational exposure of either filtered-air (FA) or 30 µg PM/m3 diesel exhaust + 70 µg PM/m3 gasoline exhaust (MVE) for 6 hr/day for 30 days. Additionally, we examined mechanisms involved in MVE-mediated alterations BBB integrity using a novel BBB co-culture in vitro model, consisting of mouse primary cerebral vascular endothelial cells on an apical transwell and astrocytes in the basal compartment, which was treated with plasma from the mice on our exposure study. Our in vivo exposure study results showed that MVE inhalation resulted in increased circulating plasma oxLDL and Ang II, compared to FA controls. Additionally, we observed increased cerebral microvascular expression of oxLDL receptors, LOX-1 and CD-36, and Ang II receptor subtype 1 (AT1) in …

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies were used to identify and describe potential habitat for three species endemic to the Southwestern United States; the Golden-cheeked Warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia), the Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapillus), and the Texas kangaroo rat (Dipodomys elator). For each species, the computerized classification of digital satellite imagery was integrated with ancillary spatial information (e.g. soils, geology, and land use) to construct a data base to be used for ecological evaluation as well as habitat protection and management measures.

Networks of ground-based and satellite borne instruments to measure ultraviolet (UV) sunlight and total column ozone have greatly contributed to an understanding of increased amounts of UV reaching the surface of the Earth caused by stratospheric ozone depletion. Increased UV radiation has important potential effects on human health, and agricultural and ecological systems. Observations from these networks make it possible to monitor total ozone decreases and to predict ozone recovery trends due to global efforts to curb the use of products releasing chemicals harmful to the ozone layer. Thus, continued and expanded global monitoring of ozone and UV is needed. However, existing automatic stratospheric ozone monitors are complex and expensive instruments. The main objective of this research was the development of a low-cost fully automated total column ozone monitoring instrument which, because of its affordability, will increase the number of instruments available for ground-based observations. The new instrument is based on a high-resolution fiber optic spectrometer, coupled with fiber optics that are precisely aimed by a pan and tilt positioning mechanism and with controlling programs written in commonly available software platforms which run on a personal computer. This project makes use of novel low-cost fiber optic spectrometer technology. A cost …