A series of experiments was designed to investigate differential
flood-tolerance and the phenomenon of flood-induced stomatal closure
of several fruit tree species. The first two experiments were conducted
with potted plants submerged outdoors 5-10 cm above the soil line.
Plant morphology, growth, leaf conductance (cL), and soil oxygen diffusion
rate...
The California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), located on the eastern boundary of the North Pacific Ocean, is highly dynamic, with variable conditions driven by seasonal upwelling, regional oceanography, and broad scale climate patterns. In the last decade, the northeast Pacific Ocean has experienced several marine heatwaves (MHWs), prolonged periods...
Dysferlin is a ∼230 kDa terminally anchored membrane protein that is ubiquitously expressed, but is particularly enriched in skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue. Mutations covering the length of the protein have been linked to muscle wasting diseases including limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and Myoshi myopathy. Dysferlin has been shown to play...
Victoria blight of oats (Avena sativa) is caused by the fungus, Cochliobolus victoriae, which produces the toxin, victorin. Victorin production is required for pathogenicity of the fungus. In oats, sensitivity to the toxin and susceptibility to the pathogen is conditioned by a dominant allele at the 1'b locus, while oats...
The thesis is a case study of two traditional family farms that were settled in
Oregon in 1850 and 1915. The study embraces the theory that material culture
reflects customs and values. The material culture indicators within the study are the
architectural structures of the Oregon farms. The study filters...
The continued propagation of antibiotic resistance requires the development of new therapeutics. The lipopeptide antibiotic enduracidin has demonstrated high activity against Gram-positive pathogens including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In addition to a lack of cross-resistance with existing antibiotic classes, enduracidin has no known transferrable resistance mechanism. The development of enduracidin as...
Whether microevolutionary processes can explain macroevolutionary patterns has long been a matter of contentious debate. The debate has persisted largely because of the challenging task of connecting microevolutionary theory, which examines population-level phenomena on the generation scale, to data collected across larger spatial and temporal scales. My dissertation research broadly...
Conservation biological control involves manipulating farm landscapes or management systems to enhance populations of beneficial predators of agricultural pests. Farmscaping is one aspect of conservation biological control where predators of important pests are identified, the availability on the farm landscape of resources and habitat components needed by the beneficials to...