Bladderwort are a genus of carnivorous plants that traps zooplankton of submillimeter size by active suction. They are among the smallest suction feeders, with gapes ranging from 0.2 to 0.9 mm in the species Utriculria vulgaris. Other suction feeders . . .

The purpose of the present investigation was three-fold: (1) to re-affirm the presence of the mountain beaver in its known southern range (the last report of A. rufa in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks was by Boyer in 1948, (2) to study the beh . . .

Food deprivation is a common occurrence in the wild and organisms must be able to maintain energy homeostasis during this period. Energy stores, as well as food intake signaling become disrupted during prolonged fasting. Plasma IGF-1 decreased but no . . .

Kings Canyon National Park, located in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, has long been noted for its geological and vegetational diversity. This diversity has led to recent studies in an effort to understand more fully the nature of the vegetation . . .

The use of isolated root cultures has become an important tool in the study of plant physiology and plant morphogenesis. Roots grown aseptically, isolated form the shoot system, may not give an entirely accurate picture of the root system of an intact . . .

Four distinctly different lytic bacteriophage systems for the organism Bacillus pumilus have been defined in this laboratory. Lysogenic bacteriophage and bacteriophage for B. pumilus isolated by Smith (1952.) were not available. The purpose of this pr . . .

Tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is a serious and understudied disease that is endemic to California. The distribution of the soft-tick vector of TBRF (Argasidae: Ornithodoros) and the prevalence of the pathogen are poorly understood in the foothills . . .

Of those women who progress to an advanced stage of breast cancer, over 80% will develop bone metastases. Currently, bisphosphonates are used for the treatment of metastatic bone disease. Our preliminary results indicate that zoledronic acid directly . . .

All four weedy species of the Muricatae section of the genus Amsinckia are widespread throughout California and often exist sympatrically commonly colonizing the same site. Amsinckia Eastwoodae Macbr., A. intermedia F. & M., A. lycopsoides Lehm, and A . . .

Cyanobacteria, the only prokaryotes capable of oxygenic photosynthesis, generate reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) species as by-products of photosynthesis and cellular metabolism. To defend against oxidative and nitrosative stress caused by RO . . .

The incidence and habits of a population of the hackled band weaver, Dictyna reticulata Gertseh and Ivie, in Imperial County, California, were followed through the 1969 cotton growing season. Spider populations were sampled using a backpack vacuum app . . .

Food habits of Pacific coast flatfish (Heterosomata) have been studied by Orcutt (1950), Arora (l95l) and Miller (1967). Food habits are one aspect of flatfish biology which is easily studied and can give insight into the ecology of flatfish. In gener . . .

Apoptosis is the cell’s primary response to stress, and is one of the body’s most important lines of defense against cancer. The process is initiated and governed by the Bcl-2 family of regulatory proteins, which contains both pro- and anti-apoptotic . . .

Big Basin Redwood State Park lies in the Santa Cruz Mountains approximately 40 miles south of San Francisco, 15 miles north of Santa Cruz and 10 miles east of the Pacific Ocean (see Map I in appendix). The park is entirely within Santa Cruz County. It . . .

This thesis is concerned with the retinal histology and scotopic (dark adapted) spectral sensitivity of three species of elasmobranch as determined by electroretinography. The cellular makeup of the retinas of each species of elasmobranch will be disc . . .

The purpose of this study was to determine if a similar correlation between soil and coat color exists for a fossorial mammal, the pocket gopher (Thomomys sps.); and to attempt to evaluate the importance of protective coloring for an animal which rare . . .

The embryology of nematodes has been investigated by a number of zoologists and has been the subject of several classical studies in cytology and germ-cell lineage. The principal embryological studies are those of Boveri (1567, 1866,1890,1909), Zur St . . .

The objectives of the present study were to determine the Hlppelates species in Central California, to study the geographic and seasonal distribution of the species, and to evaluate their relative medical importance. The investigations were conducted . . .

San Joaquin River riparian habitat has been subject to anthropogenic modifications such as housing development, golf courses, and gravel mining sites. These modifications can affect mammals, potentially causing extirpation, higher mortality, increased . . .

Carnivorous plants form traps, which require resources that would otherwise go to photosynthetically more active tissue. Added to this cost of trap construction can be the cost of setting and resetting the trap if the trap is active (such as a Venus f . . .

Examination of ovarian morphology was used to determine the seasonal age variations in a field population of house flies. A small winter and early spring population consisted entirely of nulliparous females, mostly in the early stages (N to II) of egg . . .

Naturally occurring cardiac glycosides, such as digitalis, are well known for their therapeutic effects in the treatment of congestive heart failure (Goodman and Gilman, 1970). Administration of these glycosides elicits an increase in the force of myo . . .

Bacterial second messenger, c-di-GMP, regulates important functions such as biofilm formation, motility, and virulence. C-di-GMP also has an immunostimulatory property, so can be used as a vaccine adjuvant. In this project, DgcZ (a diguanylate cyclase . . .

The European grapevine moth (EGVM), Lobesia botrana (Denis & Schiffermu_ller) is a major pest of grapevines in the Palearctic ecozone. In 2008, the moth was reported in Chile and subsequently in California in 2009, representing the first establishment . . .

Changes in the physiological age of females in a population of consperse stinkbugs, Euachistus conspereus Uhler, in Fresno County, California, were followed through one annual cycle. The gonotrophic age techniques developed by Detinova (1945, 1959) an . . .

The length of time a given psychiatric patient may spend in a mental hospital is complex and depends upon many social and personal factors. With custodial care patients accumulating in mental hospitals at the rate of sixteen thousand per year througho . . .

Three families of chick embryo DNA have been characterized and it has been shown that the most rapidly reannealing sequences (R family) are complementary to chromosomal RNA; material which fulfills the requirements of an activator RNA. This informatio . . .

The present paper deals with the contiguity of the ranges of Thomomys bottae pascalis and Thomomys bottae mewa north and east of Clovis, Fresno County, California. In this part of California, the pocket gopher of sierra foothills belongs to the race m . . .

Methyl bromide is a broad-spectrum pesticide that successfully controls insects, weeds, rodents, and several pathogens in agricultural crops; however, its use is strongly restricted by international agreement. Consequently, pesticides including inline . . .

Suction feeding is one of the primary methods aquatic organisms use to capture prey. Suction feeding in aquatic organisms is well understood in adult fish, but poorly understood in fry. Hydrodynamic theory predicts that suction feeding is not effectiv . . .

There is considerable evidence linking cumulative and sustained exposure to estrogens as a key promoter of breast tumor proliferation. Chemicals with estrogenic activity can bind to the estrogen receptor (ER) to affect downstream signaling of estrogen . . .

Mammalian cells produce different types of cell protrusions (CPs)—like filopodia, lamellipodia, invadopdia, and tunneling nanotubes—that have been implicated in numerous important biological functions, such as cell migration, cell-cell communication, . . .

Eleven years ago, the California State Legislature authorized the construction of a peripheral drainage canal for the San Joaquin Valley. Observations suggest that drainage water, which ultimately will come from the entire valley, may have adverse eff . . .

During July _ September 2009, ground ultra low volume (ULV) applications of various registered mosquito adulticide formulations were evaluated in a field assay against both wild populations and an insecticide-susceptible laboratory colony of Culex pip . . .

This study is necessary because it represents perhaps the last opportunity to examine Grinnell’s findings. Specimens were trapped and their localities mapped (see map, Fig. 1): then statistical methods were applied to various measurements such as tail . . .

Ever since the discovery of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) as an effective herbicide during World War II, extensive research effort has been directed to all aspects of this synthesized subs tame that behaves in some respects similar to plant a . . .

The purpose of the study was two-fold: first, to identify and describe the air-borne Moniliales encountered in the Fresno area; and second, to determine their relative abundance. Several methods of collecting culturing and identification are described . . .

The peptide hormone ghrelin has been shown to stimulate growth hormone (GH) release, appetite, and fat deposition in vertebrates. More recently, ghrelin has been shown to play a role in glucose metabolism in mammals. Ghrelin acts through the growth ho . . .

Cyclic changes in the size of female accessory glands are described. The gland enlarges during ovarian development and gradually becomes smaller after oviposition. The results after surgical removal of the gland indicated that its function is not pert . . .

Models of muscle contraction were proposed as early as the third century B.C. by an Alexandrian physician, Erasistratus, who believed contraction was evoked by the passage of air into the muscle from surrounding blood vessels. Other historical investi . . .

In the present study, laboratory demonstrations of susceptibility to infection of potential intermediate hosts are considered to provide only circumstantial evidence that these experimental hosts may also be natural intermediate hosts for tapeworms. T . . .

The genus Echlnorhlnus Blainville contains two species, the brambleshark E, brucus. first described by Bonnatere (1788), and the prickly shark E, cookel. first described by Pietschmann (1928), Due to the considered a variant of E. brucus (Fowler, 1941 . . .

This environment could explain the rapid proliferation of the bacteria. It wi also considered probable that the destruction, per se, of bronchiolar epithelium by the virus did not contribute significantly to the synergism.