Assessing infection patterns in Chinese mystery snails from Wisconsin, USA using field and laboratory approaches

The success of invasive species establishment in new habitats depends, in part, on interactions with other members of the invaded community. Cipangopaludina chinensis, the Chinese mystery snail (CMS), is an exotic, invasive snail in North America. Since its introduction in the 1890s, CMS have spread to a number of watersheds across the United States and parts of Canada. This invasion has generated questions about the snail’s capacity to serve as a host for parasites within local habitats, including parasites with conservation implications. To begin addressing these questions, we necropsied 147 wild-caught snails from 22 lakes across Wisconsin, finding only two CMS individuals harboring trematode (flatworm) parasites. We also conducted experimental exposures using a trematode (Sphaeridiotrema pseudoglobulus) implicated in waterfowl die-offs and found that CMS infection levels were significantly lower than those in co-occurring snail species. Furthermore, the parasites that did successfully infect CMS were often found encased in the shells of the snails in a non-viable state. Together these results 1) provide insight into the importance of CMS as a host for parasites in the region, and 2) may help to explain the wide distribution of CMS across WI and the Midwest

Working Group Report: Neutrino and Astroparticle Physics

This is the report of neutrino and astroparticle physics working group at WHEPP-8. We present the discussions carried out during the workshop on selected topics in the above fields and also indicate progress made subsequently. The neutrino physics subgroup studied the possibilites of constraining neutrino masses, mixing and CPT violation in lepton sector from future experiments. Neutrino mass models in the context of abelian horizontal symmetries, warped extra dimensions and in presence of triplet Higgs were studied. Effect of threshold corrections on radiative magnification of mixing angles was investigated. The astroparticle physics subgroup focused on how various particle physics inputs affect the CMBR fluctuation spectrum, and on brane cosmology. This report also contains an introduction on how to use the publicly available code CMBFAST to calculate the CMBR fluctuations.Comment: Prepared for the 8th Workshop on High-Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-8), IIT Mumbai, India, 5-16 Jan 200

Integration of art and environmental education : the Centro de Educación Creativa in Monteverde, Costa Rica

Population growth and deforestation are negatively affecting biodiversity in the Tropics, necessitating environmental education for local populations. Arts education increases the ability to comprehend complex information, enhance creativity and provide problem solving skills (Longley 1999, Siegesmund 1998). Together, environmental education and Arts education can enhance ecological processes and conservation themes in students’ minds so they are retained well into their adulthood. This increases the likelihood that these individuals will make environmentally informed decisions throughout their lives (Gurevitz 2000). In this project, I incorporate current Arts curriculum guidelines from the United States into the Costa Rican environmental curriculum used at the Centro de Educatión Creativa in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I create sample activities incorporating visual arts, music and theater into each of 12 curriculum themes. Evaluations by Amy Cherwin, the Curriculum Director at the CEC, and the first and second grade teachers there suggested the updated curriculum guidelines I extended were both useful and relevant to their classroom activities. According to evaluations, the sample activities I created were generally easy to understand and useful. El crecimiento demográfico y la deforestación afectan negativamente a la biodiversidad en los trópicos, por lo que se necesitan programas de educación ambiental para las poblaciones locales. La educación de las artes aumenta la habilidad de comprender la información compleja, aumenta la creatividad y proporciona habilidades en la resolución de problemas (Longley 1999, Siegesmund 1998). La educación ambiental en conjunto con la de las Artes puede aumentar los temas ecológicos y los temas de conservación en la mente de los estudiantes para que sea retenido a lo largo de su edad adulta. Esto aumenta la probabilidad de que estas personas estén informadas para que tomen decisiones ambientales durante toda su vida (Gurevitz 2000). En este proyecto, yo he incorporado las pautas actuales del plan de Artes de los Estados Unidos al plan de estudios ambientales de Costa Rica utilizándolos en el Centro de Educacion Creativa en Monteverde, Costa Rica.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/tropical_ecology/1304/thumbnail.jp

Effects of biological soil crusts on bacterial diversity and soil properties in a Wisconsin sand prairie

Sand prairies are a unique variant of the North American tallgrass prairie, found on sandy glacial and riverine deposits in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) floodplain and elsewhere in the upper Midwest. Biological soil crusts (BSC) -- communities of bacteria, microalgae, fungi, archaea, and mosses, living within the top 3-14 mm of the soil -- provide important ecosystem services in sandy habitats worldwide. However, little is known about BSCs in Midwestern sand prairies. To characterize BSCs on a sand prairie in Wisconsin and quantify their effects on soil properties, soil samples were collected as matched pairs from disturbed, open sand areas (uncrusted) and nearby recovering BSC (crusted). Samples were analyzed for bacterial diversity and physical and chemical properties. Crusted samples contained significantly higher alpha and beta diversity. Proportions of major phyla, Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Bacteriodetes, were similar between crusted and uncrusted soils, but there was greater variation at the class and ordinal levels. Crusted soils had significantly higher organic material, total nitrogen, and total organic carbon, and were more resistant to erosion. These results indicate positive effects of BSCs on sand prairie habitat. These effects could be useful in restoration of sand prairie within the UMR floodplain and other sand prairie areas

Integration of art and environmental education : the Centro de Educación Creativa in Monteverde, Costa Rica

Population growth and deforestation are negatively affecting biodiversity in the Tropics, necessitating environmental education for local populations. Arts education increases the ability to comprehend complex information, enhance creativity and provide problem solving skills (Longley 1999, Siegesmund 1998). Together, environmental education and Arts education can enhance ecological processes and conservation themes in students’ minds so they are retained well into their adulthood. This increases the likelihood that these individuals will make environmentally informed decisions throughout their lives (Gurevitz 2000). In this project, I incorporate current Arts curriculum guidelines from the United States into the Costa Rican environmental curriculum used at the Centro de Educatión Creativa in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I create sample activities incorporating visual arts, music and theater into each of 12 curriculum themes. Evaluations by Amy Cherwin, the Curriculum Director at the CEC, and the first and second grade teachers there suggested the updated curriculum guidelines I extended were both useful and relevant to their classroom activities. According to evaluations, the sample activities I created were generally easy to understand and useful. El crecimiento demográfico y la deforestación afectan negativamente a la biodiversidad en los trópicos, por lo que se necesitan programas de educación ambiental para las poblaciones locales. La educación de las artes aumenta la habilidad de comprender la información compleja, aumenta la creatividad y proporciona habilidades en la resolución de problemas (Longley 1999, Siegesmund 1998). La educación ambiental en conjunto con la de las Artes puede aumentar los temas ecológicos y los temas de conservación en la mente de los estudiantes para que sea retenido a lo largo de su edad adulta. Esto aumenta la probabilidad de que estas personas estén informadas para que tomen decisiones ambientales durante toda su vida (Gurevitz 2000). En este proyecto, yo he incorporado las pautas actuales del plan de Artes de los Estados Unidos al plan de estudios ambientales de Costa Rica utilizándolos en el Centro de Educacion Creativa en Monteverde, Costa Rica.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/tropical_ecology/1304/thumbnail.jp