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Effects of forest fragmentation on reproductive effort and productivity of Indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea)
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2005)
and offspring quality, I measured maternal condition and reproductive output of Indigo Buntings breeding in a fragmented and a contiguously forested landscape in Missouri. Renesting females had lower body condition than those that nested once successfully...
Establishing a foundation for large DNA transfer to artificial minichromosomes and B insert platforms in maize
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)
In plants, conventional genetic engineering methods limit the number of available traits that could potentially improve the quality of agriculture. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and biolistic bombardment are tools used in transferring genes...
Brassicales to Brassica : integrating phylogenomics and population genomics
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020)
populations. Using this system of diversity within domesticated B. oleracea, I examined patterns of relationships among morphotypes, including signals of hybridization and introgression. Brassica oleracea vegetable crops are frequently regarded as superfoods...
Nectar in nicotiana : pollinator associations, sources of variation, and evolutionary consequences
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
significant heritable component was detected for nectar volume and energy, as well as corolla tube length, in an experimental population of Nicotiana alata. Although phenotypic correlations were significant for all measured traits, only two correlations had a...
Assessing the effects of anticoagulant rodenticides on non-target fish species
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2018)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Invasive rat species have negatively affected island ecosystems contributing to the decline and extinction of many endemic species. The eradication of rodents on islands can...
Behavioral choice and demographic consequences of wood frog habitat selection in response to land use
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
, Missouri, and South Carolina are determining the effects of timber harvest on the persistence of amphibian populations. The purpose of my dissertation research was to define adult wood frog nonbreeding habitat in continuous oak-hickory forest...
The biology of the Florida scrub endemic millipede: Floridobolus penneri
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2006)
Even though millipedes provide a number of important ecosystem services, the group overall is understudied and nowadays largely ignored in the USA. Most millipedes that are well-studied occur in temperate, mesic environments, yet millipedes can...
Multi-scale investigations of gray treefrong movements: patterns of migration, dispersal, and gene flow
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2005)
determining microhabitat use. Further, I have demonstrated the effects of matrix composition on the frequency of inter-pond movements and elucidated historical patterns of gene flow across central Missouri. My data indicate that migration through terrestrial...
Tales of an 'invisible' life stage : survival and physiology among terrestrial juvenile ambystomatid salamanders
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)
of the many amphibian species for which stage-specific data are lacking. Next, I reared larvae of five species (A. annulatum, A. maculatum, A. opacum, A. talpoideum, and A. texanum) from populations along an ~200 km latitudinal gradient in Missouri, USA...
Conservation genetics of conflict in the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021)
The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is an endangered species whose distribution spans 13 countries in south, southeast, and insular Asia. The primary threats to the survival of this species include direct conflict, primarily ...
Seasonality and elevational migration in an Andean bird community
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
flock to document the phenology and elevational movements of birds along a 2.7 km elevational gradient in Manu National Park, southeastern Peru. Breeding for most species started with the onset of the rainy season in September and peaked in November...
The effects of metal contamination on larval white sturgeon in the upper Columbia River
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2018)
swimming performance, however, was not affected by copper exposure. While not directly lethal, these alterations in behavior would impair a sturgeon's ability to locate, capture, and consume prey, thus impacting survival. In chapter 2, I evaluated...
The role of terrrestrial habitat in the population dynamics and conservation of pond-breeding amphibians
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007)
populations in Missouri.The results of my dissertation research indicate that the quantity and quality of terrestrial habitat available to pond-breeding amphibians can have substantial population level consequences including increased extinction probabilities...
Coupling, membrane conductance, and ion channel mRNA profiles in the establishment and maintenance of network activity in the crustacean cardiac ganglion
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2021)
for unambiguous identification of cells based on anatomy or neuronal projections. We use this to evaluate the efficacy of cluster estimation procedures, clustering methods, and classification algorithms to determine the number of cell types present, group like...
Elucidation of the genetic control of carbohydrate partitioning in Zea mays
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2019)
upon the phylogentic study performed in Chapter 5 and identifies and characterizes the function of the SWEET13a, SWEET13b, and WEET13c transporters in the phloem loading pathway in maize utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis. Chapter 7 summarizes...
Effects of prescribed fire and timber harvest on terrestrial salamander abundance, behavior, and microhabitat use
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2014)
surveys for three years and used a statistical modeling approach that accounted for the tendency of terrestrial salamanders to be belowground and unavailable for surveys. I found that terrestrial salamander density at our Missouri Ozark study site ranged...
Amphibian metamorphosis and juvenile terrestrial performance following chronic cadmium exposure in the aquatic environment
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2005)
the physiological processes and body condition of amphibians and other taxa. In the first experiment, southern leopard frog and American toad tadpoles were reared separately in cattle tank mesocosms (1325-L volume) that had been dosed once at 0, 5, 18, 60, or 200...