Examining the Impact of Living Arrangements on Children\u27s Academic Achievement

In my paper I examine how different living arrangements impact how well a child performs in school. The living arrangements are: living with both biological parents, living with biological mother, and living with biological father. Using a linear regression method, I regress living arrangements against GPA and find that children who do not live with both of their biological parents are expected to perform about 0.3 GPA points worse in school than children who do. With added control variables the difference in predicted GPAs decreases. Additionally, I find that living arrangements aren’t predicted to impact children differently depending on their gender. Using getting suspended and disobedience as dependent variables supports the results from the primary regression. I also find that children who live with their mothers that have always been single from the child’s father are predicted to have lower GPAs than with mothers who haven’t always been single

Changes in Ecosystem Processes and Functional Traits over an Elevational Gradient

Elevation gradients have been used to understand how climate change impacts various ecosystems processes by substituting distance across elevation with time, reflecting a previous, colder climate. To monitor the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC), plant community, and functional traits across time in the face of climate change, this study used space-for-time substitution to emulate a long-term study with elevational gradients and revisited the same gradient for nearly two decades to monitor elevational effects across time. With this research, I aim to answer the following questions: (1) How does elevation impact ecosystem processes and alpine plant traits? (2) How does each site’s plant leaf traits and soil organic carbon content change over time? (3) Does elevation affect how plant traits and ecosystem processes change over time? Our results show that elevation shows a s-curve relationship in carbon cycling and causes a variety of responses in alpine plant traits, of particular note is a significant increase in specific leaf area (SLA) for several species with elevation. Overtime, SOC content had slight variations, but was unchanged. Plant communities could not be accurately predicted to change given the nature of the data set. As the s-curve for SOC and the increase in interspecific plant SLA were consistent across time, elevation’s effect on plant communities and ecosystem processes did not change over the study period. Improving our knowledge on the climate-carbon feedback would allow more accurate models for predicted ecosystem effects due to climate change

Biomechanics of Mantis Prey Capture

Mantis species have a variety of different morphologies, so do the extreme forms of mantis limbs trade prey catching capability for camouflage? We hypothesize that some extreme forms of mantis limbs that are associated with cryptic species may be associated with a tradeoff of the capability of those limbs. Previous research has developed 2D morphologies of several hundred species of mantises. We are creating a 3D morphology by using micro dissection, micro CT imaging to construct our 3D biomechanical model. We found the attachment points of the ligaments and muscles from a Tenodera forearm and have constructed a 2D biomechanical model

Trends in Cyanotoxin Production Potential in China Lake: an eDNA Analysis of Microcystis and Dolichospermum and the Environmental Drivers of Cyanotoxin Production

Episodes of cyano-harmful algal blooms (cyano-HABs) are hypothesized to be exacerbated by the effects of climate change. However, the dynamics of the interactions between elements of climate change and toxigenic cyanobacteria proliferation are not well defined. China Lake is the drinking water source for 7 municipalities in the Kennebec County and is one of many lakes in central Maine that has been subjected to high levels of cyano-HABs and microcystin toxin contamination in recent years. Monitoring the toxicity of these blooms in relation to various aspects of climate change may lead to identification of the major drivers of microcystin production in cyanobacteria. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis of lake water samples can detect low-level presence of the microcystin producing gene mcyE in cyanobacteria. This method of toxin analysis is emerging as one of the most efficient in estimating toxin presence in lakes. eDNA analysis via qPCR provides species specific toxin producing gene quantification, allowing for identification of dominant toxin producing species trends as well as trends in the presence and absence of toxin producing genes during bloom seasons. During the 2022 bloom season, China Lake experienced cyano-HABs dominated solely by Microcystis until midway through the bloom season when sole dominance shifted to Dolichospermum. Presence of microcystin production potential was significantly correlated with low temperature and low drought index for toxin produced by Dolichospermum, however there were no significant drivers in the presence of the mcyE gene for Microcystis. This study is one of many research efforts contributing to the Maine eDNA Project, and provides insight into the nuances of examining drivers of cyanotoxin production to elucidate the functioning of cyano-HABs

SOBLU at 50

I think it’s extraordinary that the organization has not only endured but has thrived. It has changed with the times over these last 50 years

Ever More Difficult: For Migrants reaching the Greek Island of Lesvos, conditions grow more dire by the day

Chloé Powers ’19 is the coordinator of Moms2Moms, a grassroots project providing housing to single mothers seeking asylum, and she’s involved in several other migrant solidarity initiatives, including search and rescue efforts, LGBTIQ+ migrant solidarity, and local mutual-aid projects. With the images she has taken, Powers shares her experiences from the Greek island of Lesvos

Full Issue

Spring 2021, vol. 108 no.