Environmental temperature is a crucial environmental factor that influences many physiological functions in fishes. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are a native anadromous species that inhabit a variety of freshwater rivers and lakes and are widel . . .

To better understand the neural mechanisms for human physiology, an invertebrate’s control on its cardiovascular system should be investigated. The leech’s heartbeat is controlled by segmental ganglia and has a phase delay in its peristaltic heartbeat . . .

Chronic non-healing wounds are a growing clinical burden, impacting 6.5 million patients in the United States alone (Sen et al., 2009). A variety of cells take part in the complex process of wound healing, which includes stages such as inflammation, r . . .

San Clemente Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus mearnsi) have been bred in captivity since 1991 following their listing as an endangered subspecies in 1977. For 25 years, breeding of this captive population has been managed to avoid inbreeding us . . .

Wetland ecosystems are among the most biologically productive ecosystems on Earth, yet they are being lost and degraded at an alarming rate. A growing trend to offset this loss is to construct artificial wetlands to replace the destroyed natural wetla . . .

DNA storage in the nuclei of cells is important for both compaction and the regulation of gene expression. DNA packaging is altered by chemical modifications to the tails of the histone octamer around which the DNA is wrapped, specifically histones H3 . . .

The ability to understand the neurophysiological mechanisms that influence any behavior to occur in an organism is the ultimate goal of neurobiology. Neuroscience researchers want to create a neuronal model of the human brain to know how we can produc . . .

Paralemanea is a freshwater red alga genus in the family Lemaneaceae, of which Paralemanea catenata is a member. The cues by which it regulates its triphasic sexual life history are not well known, either in terms of environmental stimuli or mechanism . . .

In 2011 Mars et. al. proposed a novel approach to identifying three different subspecies within European waters of Ulva flexuosa, (subsp. pilifera, paradoxa, and flexuosa). Their use of morphological and molecular techniques to separate each subspecie . . .

Often the first step in petitioning for a species to be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), or for evaluating management alternatives, is to conduct a population viability analysis (PVA). A PVA is a case-by-case risk analysis used to assess . . .

A large portion of nitrogen deposition on southern California’s chaparral and coastal sage scrub (CSS) is due to anthropogenic sources. The implications of increasing soil nitrogen, and the relationship between soil nitrogen and carbon on soil microor . . .

The Brazilian savanna, locally known as the Cerrado, is a major ecosystem that covers a vast majority of central Brazil. Little is known about how woody growth within the Cerrado is affected by soil physical and chemical properties. In this study, the . . .

Most extant bear species are threatened or endangered. One of the species not endangered, the American black bear (Ursus americanus), provides a practical reproductive model that can be applied to the conservation of other ursid species, due to their . . .

Literature focusing on the reproductive mechanisms in bears is often limited and only has a narrow scope. However, with six out of eight bear species being considered threatened or endangered, it seems critical that more information about reproduction . . .

The mitochondrial electron transport chain (mETC) plays a central role in the bioenergetics of all eukaryotic cells. However, the structure of the mETC varies somewhat between plants and higher animals. Plants have a more branched mETC, providing alte . . .

Although the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is well studied for its role in postharvest browning of commercial crops, its specific physiological function in plants is poorly understood. Previous research on the physiological role of PPO in walnut (Ju . . .

In the push to determine a means to decrease the rate of biological aging in humans, conclusions about over-the-counter use of some anti-aging drugs may be premature. Rapamycin is one drug that, while currently prescribed as an immunosuppressant for v . . .

Roads are recognized as a source of increased mortality and restricted movement among populations, and are expected to impact population connectivity. However, roads that are permeable barriers would still allow some degree of gene flow, and reduced a . . .

The tropical savanna of Brazil (cerrado) is extremely species diverse and it encompasses many different physiological features. These physiological differences are influenced by rainfall and nutrient availability in the soil. Plant litter decompositio . . .

The major objective of immunosuppressive therapy is to mitigate graft rejection while retaining the ability of the immune system to fight pathogens and repair tissue. Immunosuppressant drugs that inhibit mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling . . .

This study focused on the in situ leaf decomposition of Artemisia californica Less. using the litterbag method. Litterbags (10 x 10 cm) were constructed using 2 mm mesh screening material for the top cover to allow microarthropods to pass freely and a . . .

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition represents a significant input of N into coastal sage scrub (CSS) and chaparral ecosystems of Southern California. Increased N deposition has the potential to alter the decomposition rate of soil organic matter (S . . .

Hookworm infection in humans causes substantial morbidity; however, the relationship between infection and host exercise has not been quantified experimentally for these types of parasites. Human immune response to hookworms is often modeled using lab . . .

Endangered species propagation is an important component of wildlife conservation. Perivitelline membrane (PVM)-bound sperm detection has recently been incorporated into avian breeding programs to assess egg fertility, verify breeding or artificial in . . .

According to sex allocation theory and evolutionarily stable strategy models, several characteristics, including a greater than twofold increase in male fitness, are required for functional androdioecy. Lloydia serotina (Liliaceae ), a morphologically . . .

This research investigates the reproductive biology of the California state threatened plant, Hazardia orcuttii (Asteraceae). The only documented U.S. location of this perennial shrub. is in Encinitas, San Diego County, California. Very little ecologi . . .

Many biologists use passive-infrared motion detectors (PIDs) to monitor the motion or presence of warm-blooded animals in their research. This study determined some of the capabilities of a commercially available PID. Three small-mammal proxies (4.45 . . .

The importance of perennial access to water for invasive plants in arid environments was examined at eighteen sites containing Eucalyptus groves in proximity to a water source within San Diego County between June I stand September 30111, 2009. Diamete . . .

Cortaderia selloana, or pampas grass, is a serious invader of disturbed, coastal and riparian ecosystems in Southern California. The purpose of this study was to determine how the growth and physiology of C. selloana respond to various combinations of . . .

Southern California's geography and expanding population have caused an increasing amount of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition into semi-arid shrubland ecosystems. However, the effects of N deposition on semi-arid shrublands of Southern California a . . .

Human induced fragmentation of habitat through urbanization and road construction blocks routes of immigration and emigration for wildlife and can interrupt metapopulation dynamics, leading to localized extinction events. To determine the effect of th . . .

While performing, racehorses use the transverse gallop gait. When a racehorse begins to gallop, it must use either the right lead stride pattern (RLSP) or the left lead stride pattern (LLSP). When racehorses make a trot-to-gallop transition, 91% start . . .

The ubiquitous coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi (E. huxley1) plays a significant role in global short-and long tenn oceanic carbon flux, warranting the recent sequencing of this organism by the United States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institut . . .

White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), a dsDNA virus, is the most important viral pathogen in cultured penaeid shrimp worldwide. In cultured shrimp, WSSV infection can reach a cumulative mortality of up to 100% within 3-10 days upon infection. Intensive sh . . .

In aquaculture facilities worldwide, T enacibaculum maritimum is a common marine pathogen that infects important marine fish species causing flexibacteriosis. Monitoring T. maritimum levels is important for effective treatment to mediate possible outb . . .

Retrotransposons encompass a specific class of mobile genetic elements that are widespread across eukaryotic genomes, the impact of which are just beginning to be deciphered. In a step towards understanding their role in litopenaied shrimp, we have he . . .

Biotelemetry studies assume that vital biological processes are unaffected by the attachment method and presence of the transmitter. I examined the effects surgically implanted transmitters (representing 0.2-0.9 % of body weight) had on feeding activi . . .

Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was used to examine gene expression profiles of healthy (pathogen-free) Litopenaeus stylirostris. Of the one thousand eight hundred forty-two SAGE clones sequenced, we found seven thousand six hundred and sixt . . .

Of the two rhesus macaque subspecies used for AIDS studies, the Simian immunodeficiency virus-infected Indian rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is the most established model of HIV infection, providing both insight into pathogenesis and a system for tes . . .

Measurements of the leaf photosynthetic light response, water potential, and specific leaf area of two tropical transitional forest tree species, Tovomita schomburgkii and Brosimum lactescens, were quantified to establish how these properties are affe . . .

The annealing algorithm in MARXAN was used to build possible marine reserves by selecting the best of 26 heterogeneous rocky intertidal sites using various modeling parameters. Because comprehensive data on biological diversity is impractical to gathe . . .

Taura syndrome disease, caused by Taura syndrome virus (TSV), is one of the most important viral diseases of penaeid shrimp in the Western Hemisphere. A 3278 bp eDNA representing the 3' end of the TSV genome was cloned and sequenced. Sequence analyses . . .

The overall objective of this research was to identify and characterize the myostatin or myostatin-like gene sequence in the commercially important aquaculture species Litopenaeus stylirostris. Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle growth and wh . . .

Coastal sage scrub and chaparral vegetation of Southern California have become fragmented due to a loss of habitat over the past several decades, which has been caused by several contributing factors such as agriculture, urbanization, increased fire f . . .

Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology has revolutionized the ability to identify important gene sets, including Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) alleles, the most polymorphic set of genes in the human and non-human primate genomes. The cha . . .

Arginine-vasopressin (AVP) is a member of the oxytocin/vasopressin family, which are structurally related nonapeptides. A VP-immunoreactivity (A VPD was localized to a set of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) of the medicinal leech using hnr . . .

Southern California native plant communities, such as coastal sage scrub (CSS) and chaparral, are subject to a wide range of atmospheric nitrogen deposition produced from anthropogenic sources. The effect ofN deposition on the soils of two such plant . . .

To understand the complex network of the biological processes of an organism, transcription factors (TFs) and their direct target genes must be identified. In Arabidopsis, the TF GLABRA3 (GL3) is involved in trichome initiation and development. To ide . . .

The global aim ofthis research is to elucidate the role of retrotransposons in stress and immune response. As cloning and sequencing of genes has become commonplace, researchers are finding that the insertion and activity of transposable elements incl . . .

Quinones are a class of molecules whose effect on cell growth and apoptosis pathways are poorly understood, yet several quinones are widely used as food preservatives and in cosmetics. This study takes advantage of protein microarray technology to ide . . .