The fields of community ecology and evolution are theoretically tightly linked, but in general, community ecologists discount evolution in describing the dynamics of present-day community patterns. Yet, evolution in response to strong selection pressure might affect species interactions and alter ecological patterns on a relatively short time scale. Conversely, evolutionary studies are typically limited to examining the evolution of traits in response to, at most, one other species. In more complex communities, higher-order indirect effects emerge that might have significant effects on how species evolve. Evolution in a community context provides more insight into how species evole in natural communities. This dissertation focuses on the evolution of a ciliated protozoan, Colpoda sp. that lives within the water-filled leaves of the purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea). The evolution of several traits was measured in response to the direct effects of predators (specialist mosquito larvae that live in the same inquilines community), competitors (another co-occuring ciliated protozoan) and indirect effects that emerge when both predators and competitors are present. Two traits (cell size and population growth rate) evolved in response to predation, resulting in predator avoidance and tolerance, respectively. The evolution of these traits resulted in a significant decrease of the ecological effect of predators in only 12 days (approximately 40 prey generations), but less than one predator generation. These same two traits, as well as cyst production, evolved in response to competition. However, evolution in response to the indirect effects that occurred when both predators and competitors were present was stronger and in the opposite direction of direct effects. The result was little net evolution in response to the sum of direct and indirect effects. The importance of these indirect effects suggests that evolution in a community context may proceed much differently from that predicted by the simple additive effects of multiple species. To fully understand how species evolve in natural communities, complex interactions between multiple species must be fully understood. Similarly, to explain ecological patterns, it is imperative to account for the constant evolution of species in response to the suite of other species in their environment. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Biological Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / April 28, 2010. / Effect Size, Tolerance, Resistance, Prey, Colpidium, Mosquito Larvae, Rapid Evolution, Selection Colpoda, Competition, Predation, Indirect Interactions, 18S rRNA, Character Displacement, Convergence, Divergence / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas E. Miller, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Don R. Levitan, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; J. Anthony Stallins, University Representative; David Houle, Committee Member; Jeanette L. Wulff, Committee Member.

Recent years have seen a dramatic worldwide increase in allergies and asthma that can now be described as reaching epidemic proportions. Food allergies affect approximately 2% of the adult population and up to 6% of the pediatric population. Tree nut allergies, in particular, affect about 0.5% of the US population. Five commonly consumed tree nuts in the US are almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, and pecans, all of which are allergenic to a subset of the consuming population. Among the proteins thus far associated with tree nut allergies include the seed storage proteins belonging to the 2S albumin and 11S globulin gene families. Complementary DNA expression libraries were created from English walnut and cashew nut embryos. To identify the 2S albumin and 11S globulin genes in both nuts, the libraries were used either directly as targets for degenerative primers in PCR 'fishing' experiments or transferred to nitrocellulose membranes and screened with nut allergenic patient sera. Once the genes were identified and amplified, they were modified with restriction enzymes, ligated into an expression vector, and expressed as fusion proteins. These purified fusion proteins were used to screen for walnut and cashew nut-allergic patient IgE-reactivity in direct immunoblots and to identify the native counterparts of these proteins in crude nut extracts via inhibition immunoblots. Synthetic overlapping peptide libraries were created using the SPOTs technology and the linear IgE-binding epitopes of each allergen subsequently determined by screening with pooled patient sera. For the walnut 2S albumin and cashew 11S globulin the most reactive epitopes were examined further and amino acids critical or influential for IgE binding identified. Some reactive peptides appeared to be conserved in sequence position and composition among the 2S albumins and 11S globulins of the walnut, cashew, and other previously characterized plant allergens when analyzed in comparative epitope maps. Structural motifs that might explain the conservation of these antibody-binding regions among the proteins were identified through homology modeling experiments. Largely unexplored in terms of allergen epitope characterization are those of a conformational nature, comprised of amino acids distant in the proteins primary structure but adjacent once the protein folds. A chimeric molecule-based strategy for identifying the existence and proposed location of a conformational IgE-binding epitope was successfully carried out for the cashew 11S globulin. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Biological Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2006. / January 27, 2006. / Allergy, Tree Nuts, Cashew, Walnut / Includes bibliographical references. / Kenneth H. Roux, Professor Directing Dissertation; Shridhar K. Sathe, Outside Committee Member; Peter G. Fajer, Committee Member; Thomas C. S. Keller, III, Committee Member; Kenneth A. Taylor, Committee Member.

Mosquitoes are one of the most important groups of insects, because of their blood-sucking habit and their ability to transmit a number of serious diseases, such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, encephalitis, and filariasis.

Since the beginning of soil tilled agriculture, there have been many controversies as to the proper kinds and amounts of soil tillage required to establish and produce a crop. These controversies have ranged far and wide between farmers, extension service personnel, agricultural specialists, in fact almost every person connected with agriculture has his own unique concept of what constitutes proper tillage. The concepts vary widely from a no tillage program, for certain perennial row crops, to the extreme dust mulch program.

Since ß-lactam antibiotics were first employed for use in human health in the 1940’s, bacterial pathogens resistant to these drugs have emerged. More recently, however, it has become clear that antibiotic resistance is not solely the result of human-mediated use. Isolates of bacteria from a variety of environmental sources reveal surprisingly widespread levels of resistance as well. Thus, the question arises whether resistance observed in clinical versus environmental settings are drawn from the same reservoir or, rather, comprise distinct gene pools. One ß-lactamase gene, ampC, from one species of enteric bacteria, Enterobacter cloacae, was chosen for study. DNA sequences were obtained for isolates from clinical and environmental settings and their phylogenetic relationships explored to better understand the levels and nature of ampC resistance variation and the relationship between the clinical and environmental ampC gene pools. These data were also used to address the protocol for naming the resistance genes. The results suggest that both clinical and environmental sequences share a similar evolutionary history and that they may have evolved under similar evolutionary pressures. Results also indicate that the sequences used in this study should all be given the same gene name.

In the United States the trend towards overweight and obesity has been a major health concern as it has been linked to a variety of health problems. A nation-wide initiative, “Let’s Move” created by Michelle Obama was launched in February 2010 with the goal that, in one generation; every child born will be at a healthy weight at the start of adulthood. Healthy People 2020 are national health objectives for the United States to obtain by 2020. In 2009, San Luis Obispo (SLO) County preschool children overweight and obesity rates mirrored national rates of 1 in 5 four-year-old children were obese (Tom, Rivera, Ravalin, and Jankovitz, 2009). The goal of this study was to assess the 2010 prevalence of overweight or ≥ 85th percentile (OW) and obesity or ≥ 95th percentile (OB) among preschool children in SLO County, compare the results to 2006 and to identify if there were associations to demographic, lifestyle and parental factors. A total of 474 preschool children (4.54 ± 0.65 years) from 24 preschools participated in the physical assessments. A questionnaire was given to parents or guardians whose child completed the physical assessment to determine demographic, lifestyle and parental factors related to OW/OB (Head Start preschools did not participate in the questionnaire portion). There was a 50% response rate for the questionnaires. The results concluded that almost 1/3 of the preschool children were OW/OB, and about half of these children were OB. The Hispanic/Latino preschool children were twice as likely to be OW/OB as NW when compared to White children. Children attending a State preschool were 2.11 times more likely to be OW/OB versus NW than children attending a private preschool. Child health insurance plan, child birth weight, milk intake and parental BMI were found to be significant in effecting weight classification. When comparing 2006 to 2009/10, year, type of preschool and year (2006 or 2009/10) by ethnicity interaction were significant in determining weight class. There was greater than a 30% increase in the prevalence of OW/OB in preschool children from 2006 to 2009/2010, suggesting that current programs and funding are not sufficient in reducing the OW/OB prevalence of preschool children in SLO County. Repeating this study every three years will provide information that could be helpful to the community, public health services, and the medical field in SLO County in the prevention of overweight, obesity and health complications that are related.

The most efficient wildlife research programs and the most satisfactory methods of applying their results are greatly enhanced if the information is present in such an interesting and understandable manner that it becomes of practical value ot the people. Extension education has the function of translating the results of research into usable form and presenting it to the people. The development of a wildlife extension program is based on the needs of the people, and the various phases of the program are designed to meet and solve wildlife probems confronting the people. The purposes of this study are: 1. To determine the possible need for a wildlife extension program in Utah. 2. To determine the extent of national need for wildlife extension work. 3. To sumarize the extension programs in states now having a wildlife extension service. 4. To develop a guide to wildlife extension work in Utah.

Waterfowl utilization was recorded by observing study units at different elevations from the time water areas were thawed in the spring until they were frozen in the fall. Sixteen species of waterfowl were observed in the Uinta Mountain; mallards, green-winged teal, pintails, and ring-necked ducks were breeders. Ninety-eight percent of all waterfowl observed were below 10,000 feet. Waterfowl numbers were highest during migratory periods and lowest in the breeding season. Adult waterfowl were observed most often on natural water areas and beaver ponds greater than one acre. Water areas at lower elevations had high indices of aquatic invertebrates and contained aquatic plants with high seed producing capabilities whereas water areas at high elevations had little water-fowl food.

One of the important elements in the cycle of water movement from the time it falls on the surface of the land as rain or snow until it reaches the ocean, is evapo-transpiration or consumptive use of water. This subject is becoming increasingly more important, particularly in the irrigated regions of the West. It involves problems of water supply, both surface and underground, as well as those of management and general economics of irrigation projects. The purpose of this study was to obtain basic information regarding the consumptive use of water by standard crops in the Upper Colorado River Area of Utah. This information is needed to determine the flow depletion at Lee's ferry resulting from diversions from the river in the basin above. From these data, it will be possible to estimate the water supply available for future development and to predict the water supply needs for individual projects which may be proposed. in addition, the consumptive use data may well be used as a vasis for adjudication of water rights or arbitration of controversies over major stream-systems where the public welfare of valleys, states, and even nations is involved.

A major bioenvironmental effect of The United States Atomic Energy Commission's Underground Nuclear Testing Program on Amchitka Island, Alaska was the decimation of stream communities by drilling muds from the device emplacement holes. These muds reached two of these streams 4 months and 2 years before the Milrow and Cannikin tests, respectively. Recolonization of fishes and macroinvertebrates in these small streams (Clevenger and White Alice Creeks) began 1 month after spill abatement. Complete recovery of Dolly Varden in Clevenger Creek occurred less than 5 years after the spill. Of the other native fishes, pink salmon spawned 1 1/2 years after the spill and threespine stickleback, which were formerly rare in the stream, remained absent after 5 years. Although the midge Chironomus riparius recovered completely in 2 1/2 years, populations of three of the nine sympatric macroinvertebrates were still below the pre-spill densities after 5 years. Annual production of juvenile Dolly Varden in Clevenger Creek 3 and 4 years after the spill (42.45 and 43.58 kg ha-1, dry weight) surpassed the pre-spill estimate (40.21 kg ha-1) because of the predominance of new year classes in the recovering population, and not because of increased growth rates. Annual production of the recovering midges in Clevenger Creek 3 years after the spill was about 1 1/2 times the pre-spill estimate (8.12 and 12.01 gm m-2, dry weight), because of high densities from reduced competition by sympatric macroinvertebrates and predation by Dolly Varden. Rapid expulsion of the pollutant by high runoffs and immigration of individuals from unaffected areas of the stream sped the initial recolonization. The increased turbidity and some bank sloughing caused by the Milrow event did not hinder this recovery. The spill that decimated the communities of White Alice Creek, persisted for 1 1/2 years and slowed the recovery of fishes and macroinvertebrates in that stream. Physical damage and alteration of stream habitat by the Cannikin device further inhibited recolonization. Macroinvertebrate species diversity of unperturbed Amchitka streams was low when compared to that of continental streams. The response of this index to seasonal variations in density invalidated its use as a sensitivity index to perturbations in these simply-structured island communities. The stability of these low diversity communities was not thoroughly evaluated, since their resistence was not thoroughly tested; the mud spills seemed toxic enough to have decimated most stream populations. However, resilience, or the recooperative process, appeared high as indicated by rapid recolonization of native species after abatement.