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Initial juvenile movement of pond-breeding amphibians in altered forest habitat
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012)
The initial juvenile movement phase represents the first stage of the multi-phase process of natal dispersal. My objective was to investigate how alterations in forest habitat quality impact initial juvenile movement success ...
The evolution of Brassica crops and wild relatives: phylogenetics, development and domestication
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The main goal of my dissertation is to understand the patterns and mechanisms underlying mustard (tribe Brassiceae, Brassicaceae) speciation in the ...
Reinforcement signaling in Drosophila
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
Memory performance levels can reliably match the intensity / amount/ probability of reinforcement. Interestingly, experience with a reinforcer unpaired from any predictors can enhance or impair later associative learning. ...
Pollen-pistil interactions in nicotiana
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2008)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] To screen for potential mates, angiosperm pistils provide a physical and biochemical barrier that promotes the growth of desirable pollen while ...
Call timing interactions, aggressive behavior, and the role of acoustic cues in chorus formation in treefrogs
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2008)
I studied calling patterns and aggressive behavior of the Bird voiced treefrog, , to assess how dynamic call characters influences males and the factors influencing the onset of choruses and settling patterns of males in ...
The role of Wnt/planar cell polarity signaling in mouse facial branchiomotor neuron migration
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Neuronal migration is essential for the formation of distinct neural layers and functional neural networks in the developing central nervous system. As a model, we study the caudal migration of facial branchiomotor neurons ...
Non-breeding competition between migrant American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) and resident Adelaide's warblers (Dendroica adelaidae) in the Guanica Biosphere Reserve, southwest Puerto Rico
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
I tested the hypothesis that migratory American Redstarts (Redstart; Setophaga ruticilla) and resident Adelaide's Warbler (Adelaide's; Dendroica adelaidae) compete for food in a dry forest of southwest Puerto Rico. Competition ...
Teratoma formation by neuralized C57BL/6J-EGFP mouse embyonic stem cells after syngeneic transplantation into the midbrain
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Embryonic stem (ES) cells can differentiate into many specialized cell types, including neural cells. Numerous induction protocols have been developed to direct their differentiation. Our lab created an in vitro neural ...
Mitochondrial DNA insertions in the nuclear genomes of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays)
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Mitochondria were derived from once free--living [alpha]-proteobacteria and became part of eukaryotic cells through endosymbiosis (Kleine et al. 2009). ...
Postcopulatory sexual selection in the soldier fly Merosargus cingulatus
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
My dissertation research focuses on the largely understudied field of postcopulatory (or "cryptic"') mate choice. As part of my dissertation research, I have developed a novel model system for the study of postcopulatory ...
Meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA : elucidation of a new gene silencing pathway
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA is an RNAi-mediated pathway that functions to silence unpaired genes during the sexual phase of Neurospora crassa. The presence of a gene insertion or deletion causes an unpairing event ...
A tale of two horses : origins and population genetics of two feral horse herds
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Domestic feral horses have been living on two United States barrier islands since earliest record, and their origins are speculative. Legend holds ...
Communication about predation risk between parents and offspring groups in treehoppers
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
False alarms should be common and costly for group-living animals, but to limit false alarms, animals must evade a tradeoff between response sensitivity and accuracy. I investigated this topic in two closely-related species ...
Aggressive calling in treefrogs
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Acoustic communication plays a major role in many of the social activities of frogs. A great deal is known about communication in some contexts, such as mate choice. Aggressive communication, however, has received little ...
Molecular mechanisms of radial axonal growth : insights from analysis of neurofilament gene-targeted mice
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2012)
For the nervous system to send signals rapidly, axons must undergo growth that expands their diameter. This process is known as radial growth and is dependent upon insulating myelin that wraps around the axon and the ...
Population dynamics of a migrant songbird : do we need to monitor the entire breeding season?
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
In Missouri, long-distance migrant songbirds can have relatively long breeding seasons, extending all the way into September for some species. Early models that assessed population status throughout the Midwest determined ...
Phylogenetic and phylogenomic studies of wild onions (Allium, Amaryllidaceae) at three taxonomic scales
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
I used standard molecular phylogenetic and emerging phylogenomic methods to address questions about the evolutionary relationships among populations, species and subgeneric clades of the genus Allium. To test the hypothesis ...
The effects of drought stress and western corn rootworm feeding on maize root biology
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2010)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Drought and western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, can have substantial impacts on the potential yield of maize, Zea may L. Maize ...
A unique way to form a vesicle: aminopeptidase 1 aggregation and its binding to receptor ATG19 for recruitment of autophagic proteins to form a vesicle in the cytoplasm-to-vacuole-targeting pathway in yeast
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Misfolded protein aggregation causes disease and aging; autophagy counteracts this by eliminating damaged components, enabling cells to survive starvation. The Cytoplasm-to-vacuole-targeting (Cvt) pathway in yeast encompasses ...
Loss of afferent input alters voltage gated ion channel and neuromodulator receptor expression in crustacean and mammalian neurons
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2014)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Neural networks need to generate appropriate output regardless of external stimuli, to ensure survival of the organism. We utilize the crustacean ...