Plasmid transformation of chlamydiae has created new opportunities to investigate host–microbe interactions during chlamydial infections; however, there are still limitations. Plasmid transformation requires a replicon derived from the native Chlamydia plasmid, and these transformations are species-specific. We explored the utility of a broad host-range plasmid, pBBR1MCS-4, to transform chlamydiae, with...
Forest surveys provide critical information for many diverse interests. Data are often collected from samples, and from these samples, maps of resources and estimates of aerial totals or averages are required. In this paper, two approaches for mapping and estimating totals; the spatial linear model (SLM) and k-NN (k-Nearest Neighbor)...
The distribution and range of lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has been reduced by >90% since European settlement of the Great Plains of North America. Currently, lesser prairie-chickens occupy 3 general vegetation communities: sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia), sand shinnery oak (Quercus havardii), and mixed-grass prairies juxtaposed with Conservation Reserve Program grasslands....
The diverse predatory rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) support extensive commercial fisheries in the northeastern Pacific. Although 106 species of Sebastes are considered valid, many of the ecological, geographical, and morphological boundaries separating them lack clarity. We clarify one such boundary by separating the blue rockfish Sebastes mystinus (Jordan and Gilbert, 1881)...
Western Atlantic synodontid species were studied as part of an ongoing effort to reanalyze Caribbean shorefish diversity. A neighbor-joining tree constructed from cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) data revealed 2 highly divergent genetic lineages within both Synodus intermedius (Agassiz, 1829) (Sand Diver) and S. foetens (Linnaeus, 1766) (Inshore Lizardfish). A...
Patterns of seasonal abundance of harbor seals at Netarts and Tillamook Bays, Oregon, were documented by recording numbers of seals hauling out on tidally exposed sand flats in both bays. Harbor seal abundance at Tillamook Bay peaked during pupping (May-June) and molting (August) periods, while peak abundance at Netarts Bay...
In Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), Claviceps purpurea, the causal agent of ergot, typically releases ascospores during the early-morning hours, between about midnight and 10:00 A.M., corresponding to time of flowering, when the unfertilized ovaries are most susceptible to infection. During aeromycology studies of C. purpurea in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)...
During July 1970, albacore boats trolling surface jigs (jig boats) had record catches in an area off the mouth of the Columbia River. The jig fishery declined suddenly in late July and was poor throughout the remainder of the summer. No obvious oceanographic changes were correlated with these drastic changes...
Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight disease, has been reported in North America since the mid-nineteenth century. In the United States the lack of or very limited sexual reproduction has resulted in largely clonal populations of P. infestans. In 2010 and 2011, but not in 2012 or 2013,...
Ecological network models and analyses are recognized as valuable tools for understanding the dynamics and resiliency of
ecosystems, and for informing ecosystem-based approaches to management. However, few databases exist that can
provide the life history, demographic and species interaction information necessary to parameterize ecological network
models. Faced with the difficulty...
Members of Gram-positive Actinobacteria cause economically important diseases to plants. Within the Rhodococcus genus,
some members can cause growth deformities and persist as pathogens on a wide range of host plants. The current model
predicts that phytopathogenic isolates require a cluster of three loci present on a linear plasmid, with...
Vibrio vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus in the estuarine-marine environment are of human health significance and may be increasing in pathogenicity and abundance. Vibrio illness originating from dermal contact with Vibrio laden waters or through ingestion of seafood originating from such waters can cause deleterious health effects, particularly if the strains...
Motivation:
Estimation of bacterial community composition from high-throughput sequenced 16S rRNA gene amplicons is a key task in microbial ecology. Since the sequence data from each sample typically consist of a large number of reads and are adversely impacted by different levels of biological and technical noise, accurate analysis of...
Background: Arsenic is an immunotoxicant. Clinical reports observe the reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV) in people who have recovered from arsenic poisoning and in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia that have been treated with arsenic trioxide. Objective: We evaluated the association between arsenic and the seroprevalence of VZV IgG...
Management of marine ecosystems increasingly demands comprehensive and quantitative assessments of ocean health, but lacks a tool to do so. We applied the recently developed Ocean Health Index to assess ocean health in the relatively data-rich US west coast region. The overall region scored 71 out of 100, with sub-regions...
A recent identification of the two-component aggregation pheromone of the invasive stink bug species, Halyomorpha halys (Stal), in association with a synergist, has greatly improved the ability to accurately monitor the seasonal abundance and distribution of this destructive pest. We evaluated the attraction of H. halys to black pyramid traps...
Direct behavioral observations of multiple free-ranging animals over long periods of time and large geographic areas is prohibitively difficult. However, recent improvements in technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) collars equipped with motion-sensitive activity monitors, create the potential to remotely monitor animal behavior. Accelerometer-equipped activity monitors quantify animal motion...
Many marine populations exhibit high variability in the recruitment of young into the population. While environmental cycles and oceanography explain some patterns of replenishment, the role of other growth-related processes in influencing settlement and recruitment is less clear. Examination of a 65-mo. time series of recruitment of a common coral...
Dual-axis accelerometer global positioning system collars can be used to remotely record the activity level and behavior of free-ranging animals, but inter- and intraspecific variations in motion among behaviors necessitate calibration for each species of interest. To date, little work has been done to determine the best duration for sampling...
There will be winners and losers as climate change alters the habitats of polar organisms. For an Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony on Beaufort Island (Beaufort), part of a cluster of colonies in the southern Ross Sea, we report a recent population increase in response to increased nesting habitat as...