Reintroduction programs are increasingly being used to save animals from extinction and aid in their recovery. The California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus), one of the most endangered birds in the world, is a remarkable example of how reintroduction programs can help rapidly increase a species' population numbers and range following a...
Forest fires contribute a significant amount of CO₂ to the atmosphere each year, and CO₂ emissions from fires are likely to increase under projected conditions of global climate change. In addition to volatilizing aboveground biomass and litter layers, forest fires have a profound effect on belowground carbon (C) pools and...
Five varieties of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) were grown in the field in Imperial Valley, CA, USA in order to determine whether light conditions or harvest times influence cannabinoid content. A total of 16 cannabinoids were investigated in this study: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC-d9), Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinolic acid (THC-a), Cannabidiol (CBD), Cannabidiolic acid (CBD-a),...
Hybridization, polyploidy, and apomixis have made phylogenetic estimation in Rubus challenging. I used target capture to sequence approximately 1000 low copy nuclear loci and the chloroplast genome for 94 accessions representing the genus Rubus and distributed worldwide. Species phylogenies were estimated using two coalescent based methods, ASTRAL-II and SVDQuartets, and...
Oomycetes are an important group of organisms with a variety of ecological roles similar to fungi. Although many are well-studied plant pathogens known for their devastating effects on agricultural systems, most are little-studied saprobes and parasites of plants and animals in nearly every ecosystem on earth. The advent of affordable...
The essential oil from two Lantana species (Lantana lucida Schauer and Lantana salzmannii Schauer) were evaluated for their chemical composition by GC-MS. Results showed 17 predominant compounds for L. lucida, among which β-caryophyllene (19.0%) and α- caryophyllene (or humuleno, 33.0%) were the major components. L. salzmannii showed the presence of...
Contaminants used at low elevation, such as pesticides on crops, can be transported tens of kilometers and deposited in adjacent mountains in many parts of the world. Atmospherically deposited organic contaminants in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, USA, have exceeded some thresholds of concern, but the spatial and temporal...
Perfluorooctanesulphonicacid (PFOS) is an organic contaminant that is ubiquitous in the environment, wildlife, and humans. Few studies have assessed the effects of chronic PFOS exposure on central nervous system function in aquatic organisms. The present study defined the behavioral effects of varying life span chronic exposures to low dose PFOS...
Parasites are unique study organisms for evolutionary ecologists. Yet, molecular ecology studies on parasites have lagged far behind those on free-living organisms. The goal of the review in Chapter 2 was to illustrate areas of research that may be of particular interest in relation to the parasitic life style and...