Coral reef ecosystems continue to be significantly altered by disease epizootics, but why some host populations remain resistant while others succumb to outbreaks remains unknown. Research across diverse animal and plant host systems has revealed that disease severity is strongly influenced by host genetics and by environmental influences on both...
A dynamic approach to the Bayesian theory of sampling inspection
by attributes for the single sampling case is presented. A model is
developed which assumes a sequence of lots of equal known size and
lots generated by a process operating in a random manner. The model
also assumes constant associated...
This thesis contains three parts addressing the asymptotic analysis of fluid flow through fully saturated porous medium in the presence of an adjacent thin channel.
In the first part the problem is modeled by Darcy's law in both the porous medium and in the channel. The permeability in the channel...
A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a targeted intervention for community control of Ascariasis was carried out in three rural communities near Quito, Ecuador. Targeted treatment with Paico (Chenopodium ambrosioides) and Albendazole (ABZ) was applied to children aged 5 to 15 years attending primary local schools in Aglla, Checa and Iguinaro. Prevalence...
On coral reefs, disturbances rarely occur in isolation. Global stressors such as increasing seawater temperature often coincide with local stressors like nutrient pollution. In the face of increasing anthropogenic stress, corals can function as environmental sentinels, although little is known about how multiple stressors interact to disrupt their associated bacterial...
Stony corals are the ecosystem engineers of the vital, dynamic, and complex marine ecosystem known as coral reefs. Globally, coral reefs are undergoing degradation from multiple anthropogenic stressors. Coral reef organism holobionts, or the host along with its microbial components, are key to reef ecosystem success and functioning. Marine microbes...
Corals have multiple roles in maintaining ocean health and are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. The coral animal is host to a multitude of taxa, including symbiotic dinoflagellate algae, fungi, bacteria, protists, and viruses. Environmental stressors and disease agents can perturb the delicate balance of the coral host...
In host-associated microbiomes, the mechanisms that regulate community composition or the principles that govern dynamics remain far from clear. However, understanding how the structure of microbial communities shift as the system moves away from a healthy state is critical to assessing disease progression and to formulate any potential mitigation strategy....
The modern world has presented many threats to the health and stability of ecosystems worldwide. One of the most biodiverse ecosystems, coral reefs, faces particularly strong pressures, and is already declining rapidly in complexity and area. Although the stressors that affect reefs are diverse, ranging from nutrient pollution to overfishing,...
Coastal hazards are the result of numerous physical processes cumulatively causing water levels to flood and erode the land. The waves, storm surges, tides, and run-off contributing to elevated water levels are each the product of chaotic and random weather patterns. These stochastic weather patterns dissipate energy in Earth's climate...