Genome-Wide Search Reveals the Existence of a Limited Number of Thyroid Hormone Receptor Alpha Target Genes in Cerebellar Neurons

Thyroid hormone (T3) has a major influence on cerebellum post-natal development. The major phenotypic landmark of exposure to low levels of T3 during development (hypothyroidism) in the cerebellum is the retarded inward migration of the most numerous cell type, granular neurons. In order to identify the direct genetic regulation exerted by T3 on cerebellar neurons and their precursors, we used microarray RNA hybridization to perform a time course analysis of T3 induced gene expression in primary cultures of cerebellar neuronal cell. These experiments suggest that we identified a small set of genes which are directly regulated, both in vivo and in vitro, during cerebellum post-natal development. These modest changes suggest that T3 does not acts directly on granular neurons and mainly indirectly influences the cellular interactions taking place during development

Challenges of Coal-Mine Reclamation in Indiana

This presentation was given at the Fundamentals of Coal seminar,hosted by the Chemistry Department of Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, on March 11, 2010.Since the nineteenth century, more than 2.2 billion metric tons (2.4 billion short tons) of coal have been extracted from underground and surface mines of Indiana, directly affecting approximately 2,000 square kilometers (770 square miles) of southwestern Indiana. In addition, coal-preparation facilities have produced deposits of pyritic refuse materials that extend across more than 2,400 hectares (6,000 acres). Some of the environmental effects of these very large-scale activities—particularly those conducted before passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977—include land subsidence, erosion, stream siltation, acidic mine drainage, and groundwater contamination. A great variety of field-scale engineering, chemical, biological, and ecological techniques have been developed and implemented over a period of decades to address these problems, and research is ongoing. The potential also exists for development of geothermal resources related to groundwater in flooded underground mines, representing a high-yield aquifer that contains as much as 640 billion liters (170 billion gallons) of water

Development of the Indiana Historical Aerial Photo Index

This PowerPoint presentation was given at the 2008 Indiana GIS Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, on February 19, 2008.The Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) has created an interactive map (http://igs.indiana.edu/IHAPI) to facilitate the identification and retrieval of historical aerial photographs (HAPs). Large-format photomosaic index maps were scanned, georeferenced, and mosaicked to produce 951 county-based images dating from the 1930s to the 1980s. A shapefile was then created showing the locations of 113,016 individual HAPs. The interactive map allows users to easily locate a site of interest and determine unique identification numbers for individual HAPs. Copies of HAPs can then be ordered from various archival collections, including the IGS archive, which contains 39,992 photos. Video tutorials have been created to assist users

Characterization of Indiana’s Coal-Mine Aquifer

This presentation was given to the Annual Conference of the Indiana Society of Mining and Reclamation, Jasper, Indiana, December 8, 2009.Almost 200,000 acres of Indiana are underlain by abandoned underground coal mines. Many of the voids are filled with water, representing a high-yield aquifer that may contain 170 billion gallons or more. Since 1984, the Indiana Geological Survey has gathered data on storativities, long-term potentiometric water levels, and the hydrochemistry of six abandoned underground mines scattered across southwestern Indiana. These data indicate that the mines exhibit a wide variety of hydrologic and chemical characteristics. Concentrations of sulfate range from 3 to 20,000 mg/l, while concentrations of acidity and alkalinity range from 0 to 8,800 mg/l and 0 to 2,500 mg/l, respectively, and pH values range from 3.5 to 9.2. Values of storativity range from 0.0003 to 0.003, and barometric efficiencies range from 0.27 to 0.83. Long-term potentiometric levels show no evidence of seasonality or other long-term periodicities, and records indicate that several mines are still being hydrologically influenced by human activities long after their abandonment. Future development of the coal-mine aquifer for a variety of beneficial purposes, such as new groundwater supplies or sources of geothermal energy, will require consideration of potentially adverse secondary results, including the possibility of increased generation of acid mine drainage caused by dewatering of voids and increased risk of subsidence

Determinants of size at metamorphosis in an endangered amphibian and their projected effects on population stability

Roughly 80% of animal species have complex life cycles spanning a major habitat shift, and delayed life history effects play an important role in their population dynamics. Through their effect on size at metamorphosis, factors in the pre‐ metamorphic environment often have profound effects upon survival and fecundity in the post‐metamorphic environment. Here, we adopted a combined experimental and field observational approach to investigate the factors that determine size at metamorphosis in pond‐breeding amphibians, and to predict some of their downstream effects on population stability. We set up ecologically realistic mesocosm communities for the endangered California tiger salamander Ambystoma californiense to test the effects of larval density, prey density and hydroperiod on mean size at metamorphosis. We found significant effects for all three factors, with mean size at metamorphosis negatively correlated with larval density and positively correlated with prey density and hydroperiod. We also used six years of field survey data to identify the most informative model explaining mean size at metamorphosis and thus validate our mesocosm results. The optimal three‐term model identified terms that were roughly analogous to each of the mesocosm treatments and with similar effect sizes, providing strong field confirmation of our experimental results. The field data also provide correlations between each factor and the number of metamorphs recruited to the population, allowing us to predict the effect of each factor on population stability. Finally, we show that these populations of the endangered A. californiense are strongly resource limited, which has important implications for their management and recovery as an endangered taxon