Understanding how spatial variation in climate correlates with phenotypic variation among individuals may offer insights about local adaptation, population performance, and species’ response to climate change. Desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) in the Mojave Desert of southern California experience a broad range of temperature and aridity, inhabiting mountain ranges...
Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis (MAH) is a common environmental bacterium that causes infections in immunocompromised patients such as those with HIV/AIDS, or patients with chronic lung disease such as Cystic Fibrosis. There are many strains of MAH with varying levels of virulence. Infection with MAH strains 100 and 104 have...
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterial pathogen that can cause grave and sometimes chronic infections in patients with weakened immune systems and cystic fibrosis. It is suspected that specialized sodium pumps in the cellular membrane are crucial for the organism’s survival and growth, since many cellular processes rely on the maintenance...
Gut-brain communication consists of bidirectional routes between cognitive centers of the brain and peripheral intestines. This bidirectional communication is the result of the interplay between enteroendocrine cells (EECs), enteric nervous system, central nervous system, the vagus nerve, and our microbiota. Multiple studies have associated gut microbial dysbiosis with neurological disorders...
The intricate relationship between wildlife health and the quality of their environment is well established, with technological advances increasing our understanding and aiding the unraveling of underlying mechanisms. Large herbivores require forage of sufficient quality to maintain their condition to reproduce and survive, all while warding off parasites and predators...
North American bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) have experienced significant declines and population extirpations due to novel pathogens such as Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae. This disease continues to limit the population restoration of bighorn sheep. Therefore, understanding the demographic consequences of pathogen presence and the risk of contact between bighorn populations and potential...
Animals aggregate and interact in nonuniform and nonrandom patterns, which lead to group level characteristics that have important evolutionary and ecological consequences. Network analysis provides a useful conceptual framework for linking animal interactions at all scales from dyads to communities, to populations and ecosystems. Despite exciting theoretical and applied advances...
Given the many significant roles that bacteria play in modern food manufacturing, it is crucial that we have a fundamental understanding of how bacterial communities assemble and behave in the food manufacturing environment. The focus of this dissertation was to investigate both the spatial and temporal distributions of microbial communities...
The past decade of research has potentiated a revolution in our understanding of mammalian health and evolution by revealing that the gut microbiome plays a central role in mammalian physiology. Our ability to unlock this potential hinges upon the identification of specific groups of gut microbes that elicit effects on...
The diverse community of bacteria living within and on host organisms, known as the microbiome, has an important role in maintaining host health. Dysbiosis, known as a change in the healthy community of the microbiome, has been associated with a number of diseases across host organisms and body sites including...