SUMMARY - REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Exertional rhabdomyolysis (ER) is a reported syndrome in competing endurance horses; however the prevalence and cause of ER in this population has not been defined.
OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of ER in a sample of endurance racing horses, and to investigate factors, including...
Vaccinia virus (VV), the prototype member of the orthopoxvirus family, is
a large virus of complex morphology which contains a 191 Kbp double-stranded
DNA genome whose expression is tightly regulated in a temporal
fashion during viral replication. The regulation of gene expression can be
exerted at various of levels, including...
Uranium adsorption to Hanford sediment was studied for various pH, total inorganic carbon concentrations, and total U(VI) concentrations. Both batch and transport studies were done in an attempt to understand the adsorptive trend of U(VI) on Hanford sediment, and the changes in adsorption as both pH and total inorganic carbon...
Both leave islands, or green tree retention clusters, and thinning prescriptions have been proposed as alternative silvicultural strategies designed to sustain the structural and biological diversity of managed forests. However, the relationship of the physical structure of leave islands and thinned forests to their associated microclimates, flora, and fauna remain...
The conventional advection-dispersion equation cannot adequately describe all processes driving
solute transport in heterogeneous systems. This dissertation focuses on the individual influences
of both chemical (Chapter 2) and physical processes (Chapters 3 and 4) which affect
solute transport. In Chapter 2 we analyzed uranium transport in natural sediment using the...
The current generation of youth, sometimes called Millennials, has had a
reputation of political apathy. However, in recent years, youth voter numbers have gone
up. If an individual or organization wanted to continue this trend of increased youth
political participation, I wanted to explore the areas that could support or...
Grasslands account for a large proportion of global terrestrial productivity and play a critical role in carbon and water
cycling. Within grasslands, photosynthetic pathway is an important functional trait yielding different rates of productivity
along environmental gradients. Recently, C₃-C₄ sorting along spatial environmental gradients has been reassessed by
controlling for...
SUMMARY:
1. Understanding how predators select their prey can provide important insights into community structure and dynamics. However, the suite of prey species available to a predator is often spatially and temporally variable. As a result, species-specific selectivity data are of limited use for predicting novel predator–prey interactions because they...
Modulation of gene expression through RNA interference is well conserved in eukaryotes and is involved in many cellular processes. In the oomycete Phytophthora, research on the small RNA machinery and function has started to reveal potential roles in the pathogen, but much is still unknown. We examined Argonaute (AGO) homologs...
Biotic resistance is the idea that native species negatively affect the invasion success
of introduced species, but whether this can occur at large spatial scales is poorly
understood. Here we re-evaluated the hypothesis that native large-bodied grouper
and other predators are controlling the abundance of exotic lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) on...
