This thesis addresses the utility of deep-water coral geochemistry and its potential to reconstruct oceanographic conditions in the Straits of Florida. Through stable isotope and elemental analyses of the carbonate skeletons and use of available geochemical proxy calibration equations, present and past environmental parameters were determined. Over the last several years, scientific expeditions to the bottom of the Straits of Florida have revealed hundreds of deep-water coral mounds and led to the collection of extensive oceanographic data, sediment samples, and deep-water coral specimens. In 2005-2006, an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was used to map the coral mound fields at five sites with the use of geophysical imaging technology, and the manned Johnson-Sea-Link II submersible was deployed for further exploration and sample collection. The AUV and the submersible CTD also measured numerous environmental parameters, including temperature and salinity. With the goal of reconstructing environmental parameters across the Straits of Florida, Scleractinian and gorgonian deep-water coral specimens were selected from three sites spanning the Straits. Each coral was sampled at the highest resolution possible and analyzed for stable isotopes and elemental concentrations. Resulting geochemical data, specifically d18O, d13C, Sr/Ca, and Mg/Ca, was then used with previously published and newly developed calibration equations to calculate temperature, salinity, and seawater density. Kinetic and vital effects were also examined and taken into account while reconstructing environmental parameters using the coral geochemistry. Additional reconstructions using stable isotopic values from benthic foraminifera corroborated the geochemical reconstructions, and analyses of pteropods and surface sediment samples provided further insight into the oceanographic conditions at the bottom of the Straits of Florida. Results from geochemical reconstructions agreed with in situ data, indicating that slightly warmer bottom temperatures exist on the eastern side of the Straits and salinity variability among the three sites is minimal. This suggests that the deep-water coral skeletons are sensitive recorders of the environmental conditions in which they lived. Ultimately, in situ measurements and reconstructed parameters showed that there is little variability across the bottom of the Straits and that Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) is the only apparent water mass in the area at that depth. Moreover, comparison of the coral habitat from this study with others from around the world demonstrated that certain conditions are required for deep-water coral growth, and that these same parameters are common to deep-water reef systems throughout the globe. Further sampling and geochemical analyses of deep-water corals in the region may be used to gain additional insight into the oceanographic conditions surrounding the coral mounds both presently and in the past. As with other previously studied deep-water coral systems, this highlights the potential for the reconstruction of paleo environmental records from deep-water corals in the Straits of Florida.

Many large terrestrial ecosystems have patterned landscapes as a result of a positive feedback system between vegetation communities and environmental factors. One example is tree island habitats in the Florida Everglades. Although they only occupy a small portion of the Everglades landscape, tree islands are important features as the focus of nutrient accumulation and wildlife biodiversity in the Everglades ecosystem. The hardwood hammock community on the elevated head of tree island habitats can accumulate high phosphorus concentration in the otherwise P-limited Everglades ecosystem. In this dissertation, I examined two hypotheses derived from the chemohydrodynamic nutrient accumulation model, which suggests that high transpiration of tree island hammock plants is the driving force for nutrient accumulation in tree island soil. According to this model, I hypothesized that tree islands with lower dry season transpiration should have less phosphorus accumulated than the tree islands with higher dry season transpiration. By examining the water use and nutrient status from 18 tree islands in both slough (perennially wet) and prairie (seasonally wet) locations, I was able to compare water availability and nutrient accumulation in slough and prairie tree islands with different marsh hydroperiods. Chapter 1 uses elemental and stable isotope analysis to look at water stress and nutrient concentration in tree island plants. I showed that the prairie tree island plants suffer from drought stress during the dry season, when the marshes in the prairies dry out. Prairie tree islands also have lower soil and plant P concentration than the slough tree islands. Moreover, I showed that foliar N isotope ratio serves as a stable proxy for community level P availability for tree island plants, and prairie tree island plants have less P available than slough tree island plants. In Chapter 2, I showed that the satellite imagery derived normalized difference water index (NDWI) provides a robust indicator of community level canopy water content of these tree islands. NDWI, used as a proxy for water status, was positively related to foliar N isotope ratio, which suggests that water availability is linked to nutrient availability in the tree island hardwood hammock plant communities. These findings are consistent to the chemohydrodynamic nutrient accumulation model. In Chapter 3, I used sap flow sensors on individual trees to provide a real-time measurement of plant transpiration. I showed that tree island plant transpiration is affected by multiple factors including weather fluctuations, marsh water depth regulated by local water management, and canopy structure of different tree islands. Overall, my dissertation establishes a link between tree island plant water use and nutrient accumulation. It could be potentially important for future restoration plan of tree islands and Everglades hydrological management.

In 1987, Burney and collaborators (Journal of Archaeological Science (1994) 21, 273–281) recovered a ca. 8 m sediment core from the western basin of Laguna Tortuguero, Puerto Rico that spanned the last ca. 7000 calibrated years. They produced a detailed microscopic charcoal record, and from an initial peak in charcoal at ca. 5300 cal yr B.P. suggested that humans had colonized the island some 2000 years earlier than documented by the archaeological evidence then available. In 2008, two sediment cores were recovered from the eastern basin of Laguna Tortuguero. AMS dates on macrofossils indicate the profile extends to 7600 calibrated years, but it includes an interval with missing sediment marked by a layer of shell hash and bracketed by radiocarbon dates of 5144 and 1648 cal yr B.P. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses show evidence for a drastic change in depositional environment following this event. Microscopic charcoal concentrations peak just below and at the contact of the shell hash, with the first of three high-charcoal levels positioned immediately above the date of 5144 cal yr B.P. The microscopic charcoal record appears to support the interpretations of Burney et al. (1994) of human colonization around 5300 cal yr B.P., although the fires recorded in the Laguna Tortuguero sediments may also be driven by regional climate shifts. Desiccation of Laguna Tortuguero, a hurricane or multiple hurricanes, or a tsunami could explain the missing sediments and the large change in depositional environment that occurs above the shell hash. AMS dating of sediment from the mud-water interface at the 2008 core site suggests a possible hard-water effect of ca. 1200 cal yr for dates on the algal gyttja above the shell hash, which if true would mean that the event that deposited the shell hash may have occurred as late as ca. 448 cal yr B.P. (A.D. 1502).

Four separate but complimentary studies investigated the role of grain sorghum as a predator source for Southern Rolling Plains cotton in 2001 and 2002. Objectives were to: (1) determine the timing and magnitude of predator movement between crops, (2) test putative causes of movement by manipulating prey levels at different stages of crop phenology, (3) explore the feeding and reproductive behavior of a common predator colonizing cotton, and (4) examine the effects of grain sorghum and uncultivated areas on cotton predator abundance at an area-wide scale. Rubidium mark-recapture experiments indicated grain sorghum fields produced a net predator gain for adjacent cotton. Analysis suggested two coccinellids, Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Méneville and Scymnus loewii Mulsant, were responsible for the overall pattern of predator movement. Predator movement into cotton did not appear to be concentrated at specific stages of sorghum phenology. Manipulations of aphid levels in field cages were used to determine if prey abundance or phenology influenced the movement of H. convergens into cotton. In both years, more lady beetle adults were collected on cotton during the latest stages of sorghum phenology. In the second year, relatively low aphid densities (15 per plant) appeared to influence the movement of beetles onto caged cotton. Carbon isotope ratios of H. convergens were used to assess adult feeding behavior after colonizing cotton and to determine if prey consumed in sorghum contributed to egg production in cotton. Though aphids were absent 2001, H. convergens adults stayed in cotton, did not produce eggs and apparently consumed few prey. Cotton aphids were present in 2002 and H. convergens isotope ratios changed from prey consumed in cotton. The isotope ratios of egg masses collected in 2002 indicated prey consumed in grain sorghum contributed very little to egg production in cotton. An area-wide pattern analysis suggested the abundance of grain sorghum and uncultivated areas both positively influenced cotton predator levels. While these landscape effects were less important overall than prey levels and cotton planting dates, in some sampling periods landscape composition appeared to be the most important factor in determining cotton predator levels.

Les molécules marquées aux isotopes stables, dont on peut assurer la traçabilité biologique grâce aux progrès récents des techniques analytiques, apportent de nouveaux moyens d’investigation du métabolisme. De nouveaux tests de diagnostics cliniques non invasifs sont, à ce jour, de pratique courante (ex. breath test à l’urée 13C). L’intérêt majeur des isotopes stables est évidemment leur innocuité vis-à-vis de l’organisme humain, contrairement aux produits radioactifs. Pour des raisons éthiques bien compréhensibles, l’usage de ces derniers est actuellement proscrit dans les essais in vivo chez l’homme ; dès lors, le développement de méthodes alternatives d’investigations métaboliques ou de diagnostics s’est révélé pertinent. L’objectif principal de notre étude est la mise au point d’un nouvel outil de suivi du métabolisme thyroïdien basé sur la double dilution de marqueurs isotopiques avec l’emploi de molécules marquées régio-sélectivement au carbone 13 (l’une est la sonde métabolique, la seconde le standard de quantification absolue). Les étapes développées sont les suivantes : 1.Biosynthèse du précurseur : la L-tyrosine contenant de 1 à 9 carbone 13 ; 2.Synthèse des hormones thyroïdiennes servant de traceurs biologiques ou de standards internes d’analyse (la thyroxine : 13C9 et 13C6-T4 ; la 3,3’,5-triiodothyronine : 13C9-T3) : optimisation de la voie de synthèse de façon à minimiser les pertes en réactifs marqués ; 3.Ingestion ou injection du traceur (13C6-T4) par l’animal ou par l’homme et collecte d’échantillons de plasma sur une période de temps donnée ; 4.Ajout du standard interne au plasma (13C9-T4 ou 13C9-T3) ; 5.Extraction par solvants, purification et dérivation des hormones thyroïdiennes (endogène, exogène et standard) du plasma ; 6.Analyse et quantification par chromatographie gazeuse couplée à la spectrométrie de masse (par suivi des ions spécifiques de chaque entité moléculaire). L’optimisation instrumentale du protocole analytique GC-MS - à savoir la séparation chromatographique et la gestion des ions de masse en mode SIR - a été maîtrisée pour l’analyse de traces de T3 et T4 ; les limites de détection actuelles sont de l’ordre de 20 pg pour chacune des hormones. Une mise en œuvre de tests in vivo de 13C9-T4 comme traceur métabolique a été réalisée sur animaux sous contrôle vétérinaire avec la collaboration du Département de Biochimie Clinique de la « Royal Infirmary » d’Edinbourg. Ils nous ont permis de démontrer la faisabilité de la méthodologie (incorporation de la sonde et son suivi temporel) et la possibilité d’utiliser ces traceurs comme sondes chez l’homme. The principal objective of this thesis is the development of a new tool for the study of the thyroid metabolism based on double isotopic dilution technique with the use of two isotopomers of the same hormone enriched with distinct carbon 13 contents (one as metabolic tracer, the second as internal standard). The successive stages of the methodology are described below: 1.Biosynthesis of the starting material (L-tyrosine) enriched with 1 to 9 carbon 13; 2.Optimized synthesis of the thyroid hormones being used as biological tracers or analytical internal standards (thyroxine : 13C9 and 13C6-T4; 3,3',5-triiodothyronine : 13C9-T3); 3.Incorporation of the tracer (13C6-T4) by the patient and collect of samples of plasma over a given period of time; 4.Internal standard addition to plasma (13C9-T4 or 13C9-T3); 5.Solvent extraction, purification of the thyroid hormones (endogenous, tracer and standard) of the plasma; and derivatization of the thyroid hormones; 6.Analysis and quantification by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (by follow-up of the specific ions of each isotopomer), monitoring of (m/z) values 970/979 and 976/979 for thyroxine. The instrumental optimization of GC-MS analytical protocol - namely chromatographic separation and management of the ions of mass in SIR mode - was worked out for the analysis of traces of T3 and T4. The limit of detection is 20 pg for each molecule. A first implementation in in vivo tests of 13C9-T4 as a metabolic tracer was carried out under veterinary control on cats and rabbits thanks to the collaboration of the Clinical Department of Biochemistry of Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. They enabled us to prove the feasibility of the methodology (incorporation of the probe and its temporal follow-up) and the possibility of using these tracers as probes for human beings.

In this paper, we discuss the global existence of solutions for Chemotaxis models with saturation growth. If the coe±cients of the equations are all positive smooth T-periodic functions, then the problem has a positive T-periodic solution, and meanwhile we discuss here the stability problems for the T-periodic solutions.

This study investigated the role of an invasive tall cane, Arundo donax L. (Arundo), in the riparian water cycle. Four 100 meter transects were arrayed perpendicular to the lower Rio Grande in southwest Texas. The first objective was to determine the primary water source for Arundo by using naturally occurring stable isotopes. Surface soil, river water, groundwater, precipitation and rhizome samples were collected every month during 2010 and 2011 growing seasons, which coincided with a major flood that saturated soils in the first year followed by extreme drought in the second year. The second objective was to characterize how Arundo water use varied with water availability gradients in the riparian zone. Leaf gas exchange and leaf delta13C were measured along potential moisture gradients. The third objective was to understand the interaction between groundwater and surface water, and whether Arundo water use affected daily groundwater fluctuations. The isotope ratio of rhizome water was consistent with shallow soil moisture uptake and with previous observations of a relatively shallow, fibrous root system. Floodwater from July 2010 persisted in the soil for at least a year despite a severe drought, and became the dominant water source for Arundo during much of the study period. Although the alluvial water table in this floodplain was shallow (< 6 m) and subject to changes in river level, groundwater seemed not to be an important source for Arundo, so long as the soil moisture was sufficient. In this study, Arundo was not found to experience soil moisture limitation, and the spatial variability of Arundo transpiration was not associated with any soil moisture availability gradients. Arundo was found to close its stomata in response to increasing vapor pressure deficit (VPD), causing declining transpiration rate and increasing leaf delta13C composition. Significant exchange between the river and the alluvial groundwater was reflected in the similarity of isotopic compositions and the high correlation between river and groundwater elevations. Cross correlation analysis showed that over 50% of the diurnal groundwater fluctuations were caused by river stage changes. Consistent with the above ecophysiological and stable isotope results, Arundo water use was not found to influence daily groundwater fluctuations.

Ten years ago, J. Villadsen constructed the first examples of simple C*-algebras with stable rank other than one or infinity. Villadsen's examples all had a unique tracial state. It is natural to ask whether examples can be found of simple C*-algebras with higher stable rank and more than one tracial state; by building on Villadsen's construction, we describe such examples that admit arbitrary tracial state spaces.

Tree-ring analyses have contributed significantly to investigations of climate change and climate cycles, including the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Stable isotope climate proxies (?18O, ?D, and ?13C) have enhanced traditional ring-width data, although poor preservation of ancient wood has generally constrained reconstruction of stable isotope proxy records to the Holocene and Late Pleistocene. An opportunity to apply these stable isotope methods to older wood has been presented by recovery of remains of Mixed-Coniferous Boreal Vegetation, in Early Pliocene (4-5 Ma) deposits at Strathcona Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Canada (~79°N). An exceptionally well-preserved tree trunk, identified as Larix (larch) through wood anatomical characteristics, from this high Arctic site provided a 203-year tree-ring record, from which we present the first high-resolution, secular isotope record of Pliocene climate. ?18O, ?D, and ?13C isotope values indicate a variable climate with alternating intervals of cool/wet to warm/dry weather. These fluctuations in climate may be attributable to phase changes in climate cycles observed in the record. A growing season mean temperature of 14.4 °C was calculated from isotopic analysis of gastropod shells. Palaeoclimatic modeling of tree isotope values has revealed growing season temperatures of 11-15 °C, and estimated isotope values of precipitation of 18.3 (?18O) and 228 (?D). Both palaeotemperature estimates and source water calculations are comparable to those found in a modern Boreal Forest. Time-series wavelet analysis was applied to these data revealing prominent short (<10 years), intermediate (16-35 years) and long-term (~45-50 years) cyclicity. These are the highest resolution climate cycles recovered from the pre-Holocene terrestrial record, providing evidence for decadal scale cyclicity similar to the NAO and/or PDO 4-5 million years ago.

Identifying the ecological mechanisms that determine food web structure is critical for understanding the causes and consequences of diversity. The objective of this thesis was to identify the mechanisms structuring aquatic food webs across environmental gradients from a multi-level perspective (individual to ecosystem) using integrative methodology and field experiments to test classic ecological theory. My results demonstrate support for the dynamic constraints hypothesis, which predicts habitats with greater disturbance should have shorter food chains, but are not consistent with the ecosystem size hypothesis that predicts larger ecosystems have longer food chains. Insect and amphibian richness increased with increasing pond size and hydroperiod, indicating that insertion of new consumers into pond communities was driving variation in food-chain length. A multivariate analysis testing the influence of physicochemical variables on food-web characteristics revealed that hydroperiod and pond area had a strong influence on amphibian and invertebrate assemblages, trophic diversity and 15N range. Food-chain length did not respond strongly to any one variable, but instead responded weakly to multiple environmental variables, suggesting interacting influences on food-web structure. Conversely, the trophic niche of amphibian larvae was not influenced by pond hydroperiod, but did exhibit ontogenetic diet shifts. Populations of amphibian larvae with broader niche widths also had increased individual variation, supporting the niche variation hypothesis. In addition, I assessed whether species diversity influenced the magnitude of cross-habitat resource flow between aquatic and terrestrial habitats via emerging aquatic insects, metamorphosing amphibians, and litter deposition. Deposition into ponds far exceeded carbon exported via insect and amphibian emergences. We found a negative relationship between resource flux and the diversity of amphibians and insects, which contradicts the general pattern of positive biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships. My research strongly suggests environmental variation is a key process in shaping food-web structure and function and that multiple methodologies are needed to understand temporal and spatial dynamics of aquatic ecosystems.