The endemic cyprinids of Lake Lanao, Philippines have been described as a species flock and are thought to be an example of explosive evolution. However, based on historical surveys, 16 of the 18 cyprinid species endemic to Lake Lanao are now believed to be extinct. Furthermore, non-native species have been...
Sea turtles are endangered species that can be censused with aerial surveys, but the number of turtles in an area must be extrapolated to include animals that are submerged. Twenty-one satellite tags were attached to juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in North Carolina. I analyzed surfacing and dive behavior...
Environmental scientists, land managers, and policy actors are increasingly presented with high-stakes high-uncertainty problems stemming from human-ecosystem interactions. To help address these problems, scientists frequently use models that produce enormous geospatial and temporal datasets that are constantly modified and often seek input from communities outside their discipline. To assist scientists—as...
Global biodiversity decline is primarily driven by habitat loss. Deforestation, the primary driver of terrestrial habitat loss, is increasing worldwide, with the most significant impact in the world biodiversity hotspots. Sadly, specific knowledge of such impacts in biodiversity-rich but data-poor countries are still unknown, and many national and regional narratives...
This is a Ph.D. dissertation for a study conducted at OSU/Horticulture. The main objective of this study was dissecting the genetic background for white mold resistance in common (snap) bean. Tow main approaches were followed to achieve the goal. The first approach was using the classical quantitative trait loci (QTL)...
Communities across the American West face new challenges in water management: historical management structures devised to prioritize economic uses, predominantly agriculture, are being tasked with adapting to address growing and changing populations, unaddressed species and ecosystem needs, and climatic changes. Scholars in the field of collaborative governance posit that collaborative...
Central Oregon's landscape is rich in dry forests prone to frequent wildfires. Climate change studies and improved modeling indicate this region could experience conditions that result in an increase in number and severity of wildfires. With the potential for increased environmental hazards, the nearby communities face potential risks and vulnerabilities...
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important crop worldwide, however, in recent years concerns have been raised regarding two health issues, celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, and their relationship to wheat consumption. This increase has led to questions regarding potential changes over time in the composition of gluten (glutenin and gliadin)...
The research presented in this dissertation focuses on the model generation and modeling processes of student teams that participate in capstone, undergraduate engineering physical and virtual laboratory projects. The Heat Exchange Laboratory Project, the Ion Exchange Laboratory Project, and the Virtual Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Laboratory Project provide the context...
Decline in cardiac pump function is a hallmark of aging where mitochondrial decay is an important underlying cause. Although certainly multifactorial in nature, both dysfunction of the machinery involved in the chemiosmotic process of energy transduction and lower capacity to maintain fatty acid-driven respiration are identified as intrinsic factors of...