Dissertations & Theses
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IMPACTS OF DAM REMOVAL ON CYANOBACTERIA BLOOMS AND ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY IN HYPEREUTROPHIC UPPER KLAMATH LAKE
(2023-08-14)The Chiloquin Dam was removed from the Sprague River in 2008 to restore the natural hydrology of Upper Klamath Lake (UKL), allow fish access to historical spawning grounds, and alleviate the effects of long-term eutrophication. ... -
DETERMINING HOW ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGE FILTERS BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES AND HOW SPECIES MODIFY THEIR TRAITS IN RESPONSE TO URBANIZATION
(2023-08-11)Humans are significantly altering the environment at an alarming pace, leading to a reduction in species diversity. This transformation has created modified habitats where some species struggle to survive, while a few ... -
Molecular Mechanisms That Regulate the Stress Response In A. baumannii
(2023-08-14)**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 08/01/2025** Acinetobacter baumannii is particularly problematic in hospital settings, where infections can occur in a range of tissues. This bacterium can endure extreme ... -
Biodiversity in the Anthropocene, understanding the impacts of land-use change, and species interactions.
(2023-08-10)**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 8/1/2024** ABSTRACT: The extent of human influences on the environment and biodiversity has led to naming our current time period the Anthropocene. A primary way in which ... -
Urban Ecology in North Texas: Native Plants and Nitrogen Deposition
Globally, the human population continues to grow and move into urban areas causing a range of effects on local ecosystems. Elevated temperatures, altered hydrology, and higher concentrations of atmospheric pollutants in ... -
DIVERSIFICATION ON CONTINENTS AND ISLANDS: A HERPETOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
This dissertation seeks to understand the geological and climatological processes that have promoted diversification on continental and island systems. Using molecular genetic data generated using Sanger sequencing and ... -
USING INTEGRATED APPROACHES TO STUDY THE SYSTEMATICS OF SCINCID LIZARDS IN THE LOWER SUNDA SHELF
Scincid lizards are one of the most diverse group of squamate reptiles, found from tropical to temperate habitats worldwide. In the tropical rain forests of Java, Sumatra, and other parts of the Sunda Shelf biological ... -
Niche and dispersal effects on biodiversity, community composition and species co-occurrences in stream ecosystems
(2022-08-16)Niche and dispersal processes are major ecological drivers of freshwater communities but their relative roles across latitudinal gradients, scales, and organismal groups are not well understood. Thus, we performed three ... -
PIF transposable elements domestication and genetic novelty in insects
(2022-05-17)**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 5/17/2024** ABSTRACT: Transposable elements or TEs, are selfish genetic elements that represent a major component of a eukaryotic genome. They are genetic units that can ... -
Microbial Diversity and Immunogenetics of Whiptail Lizards (Aspidoscelis)
(2022-08-10)Whiptail lizards of the genus Aspidoscelis are a complex of both sexual and asexual species with distributions in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. The parthenogenetic lineages arose through hybridization ... -
Evaluating Headstarting as a Conservation Strategy for Anegada Rock Iguanas (Cyclura pinguis)
(2022-06-03)In an effort to combat the current extinction crisis, conservation biologists have developed a diverse set of tools, including conservation physiology. This scientific discipline applies physiological concepts and tools ... -
THE EVOLUTION OF NEUROSENSORY STRUCTURES: EVALUATING ECOLOGICAL DRIVERS OF BRAIN AND EYE SIZE VARIATION
(2022-05-18)Neurosensory structures (i.e., brain and eye size) vary extensively across taxa. The evolution of large neurosensory structures has long been an area of interest for scientists, but focus has largely been placed on ... -
Diversity of the Fanged-Frog Complex, Limnonectes kuhlii (Anura: Dicroglossidae) on the Mountainous Regions of Java and Sumatra, Indonesia
(2021-12-21)The cryptic species complex, Limnonectes kuhlii, previously was considered to have a large range across Southeast Asia. Recent works have started to identify species within the complex using primarily genetic methodologies. ... -
Development and characterization of novel a TCRm antibody and its application as an immune checkpoint blocker
(2021-12-21)Immunotherapy, the treatment of diseases via targeted immune system activation, has recently shown extraordinary success in clinical trials for multiple malignancies. In contrast to a routine therapeutic regimen for cancer, ... -
Learning to Swim: An Exploration of the Terrestrial to Aquatic Transition in Elapids (Squamata: Elapidae)
(2021-12-20)Elapidae is an extremely diverse family of venomous snake that have a nearly global distribution. To conquer such wide swaths of territory the initially fossorial snakes evolved many successful strategies pertaining to ... -
GLOBAL MAPPING OF PROTEIN-NUCLEIC ACID INTERACTION OF THE RLE LINE R2Bm
(2022-05-17)The R2 Long Interspersed Nucleotide Elements (LINEs) is a widely distributed site specific non-LTR retrotransposons that integrates exclusively into host genome’s 28s rRNA genes and replicate by a process called Target ... -
GENETIC INNOVATION THROUGH GENE DUPLICATION IN DROSOPHILA
(2021-08-13)Among several mechanisms, whole gene duplication is one of the major sources for the generation of new genes. A large portion of young genes that emerged through whole gene duplication in Drosophila are specifically expressed ... -
ENDOPHYTIC BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM AESCHYNOMENE INDICA PLANTS AND THEIR ROLE IN NOD-FACTOR INDEPENDENT NODULE FORMATION AND NITROGEN FIXATION
(2023-05-19)The formation of specialized root organs known as nodules is the most defining characteristic of leguminous plants due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen to bioavailable forms enabled by rhizobial endosymbionts. This ... -
Stress Response Pathways and the Origins of Novelty: How Snakes Regenerate Organs and Regulate Venom
(2023-05-11)**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 05/11/2024** ABSTRACT: Snakes have captured evolutionary biologists’ attention for decades as extreme examples of adaptive evolution models for studying how novel and ... -
LEVERAGING POPULATION GENOMICS ACROSS TWO TAXONOMICALLY DIVERSE NON-MODEL SYSTEMS TO UNDERSTAND PATTERNS OF DISEASE TRANSMISSION AND CONSEQUENCES OF HYBRIDIZATION
(2023-05-10)**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 05/10/2025** ABSTRACT: The field of population genomics has been mainly applied to questions centered around understanding molecular variation, impacts of evolutionary ...