There is a possibility to eradicate infectious diseases with antibiotics. However, new infectious diseases are continually being identified and some known pathogens are again becoming a threat because of antibiotic resistance. Amphibians mostly live i . . .

The blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila) is a federally and state-listed endangered species, endemic to the San Joaquin Valley, Carrizo and Elkhorn Plains, and Cuyama Valley of central California. Habitat degradation has had a profound impact on . . .

The Tipton kangaroo rat (Dipodomys nitratoides nitratoides), is an endangered subspecies of the San Joaquin Valley kangaroo rat, found in the Tulare basin of the San Joaquin Valley. Dipodomys n. nitratoides and the larger Heermann’s kangaroo rat (Dipo . . .

Purpose of the Study: The endangered Sonoma County population of the California tiger salamander, Ambystoma californiense, undergoes migrations between breeding pools and upland dry-season refugia. Orientation in this species during breeding migration . . .

Rhus ovata is an evergreen shrub species that is common to low elevations in southern California. This species is subdioecious, i.e. some individuals are functionally females and produce fruit while others are functionally male and produce flowers wit . . .

With over 1,300 known species, the genus Megaselia Rondani is the largest phorid genus, largely the result of high cryptic diversity and a past tendency for researchers to lump species into the genus that defied convenient classification. For many of . . .

The phorid fly genus Apocephalus is the largest assemblage of ant-parasitizing Phoridae. Apocephalus is currently organized into two subgenera: A. (Apocephalus) and A. (Mesophora). The species of A. (Mesophora) attack a wide variety of non-ant hosts i . . .

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of genetic divergence among populations of Vaejovis confusus in the southern San Joaquin Valley and across the state of California. Although there has been considerable research to measure genetic . . .

Opuntia basilaris Engelm. & Bigelow var. treleasei (J.M. Coult.) Toumey (OBT), commonly known as Bakersfield cactus, is endemic to parts of Kern County, California. O. b. var. treleasei is one of four varieties of Opuntia basilaris and is state and fe . . .

The Giant Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ingens) is a federally and state-listed endangered species, endemic to the San Joaquin Valley, Carrizo and Elkhorn Plains, and the Cuyama Valley. Populations of the endangered Giant Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ingens) hav . . .

Examination of fish skeletal remains from archaeological sites serves both archaeological and biological interests. For archaeologists, it can establish the role of fish consumption in a people’s diet, provide clues to their fishing technology and ove . . .

Non-native grass invasion is a major concern for land management and native plant conservation. In the southern San Joaquin Valley of California, human-disturbed environments that are heavily invaded by non-native grasses often contain some native ann . . .

Research on animal movement patterns and factors that influence these patterns is vital to conservation of endangered species. The California Red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) is a threatened species native to California. Their rapid decline has been l . . .

Ecological interactions can vary in strength depending on environmental conditions. The outcomes of these interactions are often dependent on the abiotic environment, but can also depend on the presence of other biotic species, including mutualists, . . .

Transporting water efficiently is one of the chief functions of plant vascular systems. Highly efficient transport is generally beneficial; however, tradeoffs arise because vascular systems have multiple functional roles that interact with one another . . .

Purpose of the Study: The Russian River watershed stretches across a significant portion of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, covering 1,485 square miles, and is home to not only humans, but countless fish and wildlife species as well. The Russian River . . .

Purpose of the Study: Long-lived iteroparous females may suppress reproduction during unfavorable conditions to maximize lifetime reproductive success. Capital breeders must accrue sufficient body reserves to support reproductive effort or they may ex . . .

Purpose of the study: Adipose tissue is essential to endotherms for thermal regulation and energy storage as well as functioning as an endocrine organ. Adipose derived hormones, or adipokines, regulate metabolism, energy expenditure, reproduction, and . . .

Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) live in a complex multilevel social system with the one-male-unit (OMU) at the core. OMUs consist of an adult alpha male with one or several adult females, their dependent offspring and sometimes a few follower male . . .

Purpose of the Study: To understand male and female mate choice patterns affecting species and gender recognition via long distance chemical cues, this study examined the rough skin newt, Taricha granulosa, in both pond and creek habitats. Response to . . .

This study involved Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, as the model organism to study the behavioral differences seen in flies overexpressing the human tau protein throughout their adult life span. The tau protein (MAPT – microtubule ass . . .

Paralabrax clathratus, commonly known as the kelp bass, is an important sportfish to the Southern California angler, ranking among the top sportfish on commercial passenger fishing vessels since the 1950's. They commonly occur in a patchy distribution . . .

Clusterin is a multi-functional protein that was initially isolated from ram testis. It was first identified for its ability to promote aggregation of cells, hence the name clusterin (Fritz et al., 1983). Subsequent research has identified clusterin i . . .

Cell surface properties play an important role in embryonic morphogenesis and in malignant invasion. Cell surface sugar chains extend away from the cell membrane and are believed to be involved in cellular migration and adhesiveness. Some of these sug . . .

Ammonia, glutamate, or glutamine can be utilized as sole source of nitrogen by Sporosarcina ureae. The growth rate is proportional to the concentration of ammonia up to a set value of 0.6 div./h at 84 mM, but concentration independent for glutamate at . . .

Many studies have examined the effects of free lectins such as Concanavalin-A (Con-A) on sea urchin development and suggested that lectin binding ligands play a role in embryonic cellular interactions. In this study, the effects of immobilized Con-A o . . .

The sea urchin is the material of choice for studying many early developmental events. Methods to extend the viability of sea urchin gametes have not received much attention, but it is well known that the eggs are easily damaged by freezing (4). This . . .

Cell adhesion has been studied for almost a century beginning with H.V. Wilson's classic studies on sponge cell aggregation. Cell adhesion plays an important role in morphogenesis and malignancy, but its molecular basis is poorly understood. As the ce . . .

Iranian Jews constitute a growing minority in metropolitan cities around the United States. They are part of a close-knit community, with strong family and cultural values. Prevailing negative attitudes in the Iranian Jewish society towards disease an . . .

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the level of folic acid (FA) in human blood serum affects the number of fragile sites observed in cultured T-lymphocytes. Private practice patients (Internal Medicine) who evidenced no symptoms of sign . . .

The homocystinurias are a group of autosomal recessive disorders which are caused by various inborn errors of metabolism. Tnese disorders are characterized by high plasma and urinary ieveis of homocysteine and methionine, and low levels of cysteine. T . . .

The perciform suborder Notothenioidae is comprised of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic fishes, several of which have lost their ability to rapidly upregulate major heat shock proteins (HSP’s) in response to thermal stress. In fact, some notothenioid spec . . .

Worldwide, there are 65 million people that have epilepsy and approximately 200,000 additional individuals are diagnosed with epilepsy annually. There is no cure and currently available anticonvulsants, which are medications to treat seizures, are not . . .

The Escherichia coli cAMP receptor protein (CRP) requires both DNA binding and RNA polymerase recruitment for its transcriptional activation function. The DNA recognition of CRP is performed by the F-helix (residues 180-185) and several F-helix resi . . .

Bacteria must be able to withstand a myriad of stresses from both their environment, and in the case of pathogens, from their host. Low molecular weight thiols serve as redox buffers to maintain a reducing environment in the cell and participate in va . . .

Purpose of the Study: California black oak, Quercus kelloggii, plays an important role in the lifeways of many indigenous tribes throughout California. Native peoples tend black oaks using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to encourage the devel . . .

Discovered in 2004, tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are actin-based, bridge-like structures that allow the intercellular transport of cellular components, electrical signals, and pathogens. Thus, TNTs have been implicated in viral propagation, neurodegener . . .

Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) have been recently discovered as an essential form of cell-cell communication in multicellular organisms. Although TNTs appear to be an important cell-cell signaling pathway, its mechanism of formation and functions are st . . .

Purpose of the Study: Understanding impacts of invasive pathogens and wildfire on forests is a major challenge facing scientists, land managers, and policymakers. In this study, I used a long-term plot network in eastern Sonoma County to disentangle t . . .

All zoos grapple with challenges of keeping captive animals engaged in natural behaviors, especially for bears which prove to be among the more challenging species to keep stimulated. In captivity, a common indicator of poor welfare is the presence . . .

A variety of models of cell adhesion have been proposed by previous investigators; each depended heavily on details of the biochemistry of cell surface sugars. In this study, Lytechinus pictus sea urchin embryos were used to study the molecular mechan . . .

Applications of a low-speed centrifuge rotor designed to separate whole cells at very low g-forces in partially reoriented, shallow density gradients are presented. The particle separation chamber was fabricated using Lucite so that gradient behavior . . .

Habitat fragmentation plays a major role in species extinction and the loss of biodiversity around the globe. When fragmentation occurs, the initial loss of overall habitat alone causes species extirpation. However, species that survive this initial l . . .

The susceptibility of ecosystems to the introduction of non-native species has increased drastically with the development of advanced transportation technologies. It is now quite common for organisms to be easily transported by humans across physiolog . . .

The purpose of this study is to compare the genetic distances of Mimetus hesperus and Theridion neomexicanum within and between the San Joaquin Valley and Mojave Valley regions. To my best knowledge this is the first genetic study of M. hesperus. Moun . . .

In sea urchin eggs the hexose monophosphate shunt is the main glycolytic pathway before and after fertilization, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is the main regulatory enzyme of the pathway. Activity of the enzyme increases with fertiliza . . .

The Blainville's Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma blainvillii) is endemic to California and ranges from northern California (Butte County), to the northwestern tip of Baja California in the southern part of its range, west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and . . .

In most temperate coniferous forests, the vast majority of vascular plant species richness can be found in the understory layer. While the large-scale conversion of forests to plantations has made it increasingly important to understand how understory . . .

Invasive plants threaten native biodiversity and ecosystem function. Non-native plants can out-compete native plants for resources, reducing population sizes. For rare species, this can increase the chances of extinction. Pentachaeta lyonii is an enda . . .

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 cycla . . .