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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 ...
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). ...
Social and psychobiological regulation of the human child's hypothalamus-pituitary-axis : an ontogenetic perspective
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
On the basis of life history theory, the delayed reproductive maturity represented by an extended period of childhood and juvenility in humans is predicted to be important for learning cultural, social, and ecological ...
Flipping the switch : regulation of proliferation and differentiation in adult muscle stem cells
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Adult muscle stem cells or satellite cells are the committed somatic stem cells responsible for maintenance and regeneration of adult skeletal muscle tissue. Skeletal muscle is capable of multiple rounds of complete ...
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 ...
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 ...
Building better wetlands for amphibians : investigating the roles of engineered wetland features and mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) on amphibian abundance and reproductive success
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Compensatory wetland mitigation efforts have been broadly criticized for failing to replace lost ecological functions, even with net gains in wetland area. Of particular concern is the suitability of constructed wetlands ...
The eco-physiology of PHOT1/phot1[delta]PKD, insights into a phototropically enhanced mutant.
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The phototropin class of blue light photoreceptors in Arabidopsis is critical to how plants response to light cues. Here, I study how the photo-perception ...
Immunogenic properties of neuralized embryonic stem cells in a model of allogenic intracranial transplantation
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Intracranial stem cell transplantation has may restore central nervous system (CNS) function and compensate for neural cell loss. However, immunological ...
Cause specific mortality and anti-predator behavior in midwestern songbirds
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Predation is a ubiquitous selective pressure that profoundly influences animals on evolutionary and ecological time-scales, but we lack estimates of predator-specific mortality rates for many taxa. We investigated ...
Phylogenetic and behavioral differentiation in the canyon treefrog, Hyla arenicolor
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
My research interests lie in understanding the process of speciation. In my dissertation I set out to do this by examining the first step in potential speciation, population differentiation. In my dissertation research I ...
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 ...
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 ...
Genome evolution in monocots
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
Monocotyledonous plants are a well-circumscribed lineage comprising 25% of all angiosperm species, including many agriculturally and ecologically important species (e.g., grasses, palms, orchids, lilies, yams, pondweeds, ...
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 ...
Intrinsic, extrinsic and environmental regulation of muscle satellite cell motility
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Skeletal muscle repair and regeneration requires the activity of satellite cells, a population of myogenic stem cells. Previously, little data existed ...
Developmental programming by xenoestrogens
(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2011)
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Xenoestrogens (XE) are chemicals in the environment that mimic the body's natural steroidal estrogens. Developmental exposure to XE may interfere with ...
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 ...