Marshall University Music Department Presents a Senior Recital, Luke Miller, saxophone

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Miller\u27s Sermons

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Life on the Edge: Morphological and Behavioral Adaptations for Survival on Wave-swept Shores

Wave-swept rocky shores serve as a home to a great diversity of organisms and are some of the most biologically productive habitats on earth. This burgeoning community exists in spite of the fact that the zone between the high and low tide marks can be one of the most physically harsh environments on earth. Large forces imposed by breaking waves and wide swings in temperature require the organisms living on rocky shores to adapt to a constantly changing environment or risk extirpation by physical forces. I have explored a number of hypothesized adaptations for survival on rocky shores and discuss how the results influence the evolutionary and ecological processes shaping shoreline communities. I developed a biophysical model to predict body temperatures for high shore littorine snails in order to address the role of evolved morphological and behavioral traits for controlling body temperature during extreme temperature exposures. The results demonstrate that while the behaviors of these snails allow them to reduce body temperatures by several degrees, the hypothesized roles of shell shape and color contribute relatively little to controlling body temperature. A similar biophysical model for predicting organismal body temperature was combined with a physiological study to examine the role of temperature stress in setting the distributional limits of an important mid-intertidal limpet, Lottia gigantea. With a temperature exposure protocol based on realistic field conditions, I measured sub-lethal and lethal temperature limits for this species, and found that the vertical distribution of L. gigantea may be set directly by high temperatures within certain microhabitats on the shore. The final section describes the role of behavior in barnacles in compensating for limits in the phenotypic plasticity of their feeding appendages. By directly monitoring the feeding activity of barnacles under breaking waves, I show that fast reaction times allow barnacles to avoid damaging water flows while still exploiting much of the available time for feeding. The studies in this thesis provide a number of new insights into the role of the abiotic environment in the evolution and ecology of organisms living on wave-swept rocky shores

The use of a food based social network site in culinary education

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 14, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Leslie JettIncludes bibliographical references.M.S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."May 2012"There is no mistaking that social network sites have become a pervasive presence in our everyday life. Many studies have been conducted on how general population networks like Facebook and Twitter may be valuable in academia, but no studies have be conducted on how a niche population network may be valuable in academia. Using students from a culinary class at the University of Missouri, this study explores how a social network site could be valuable in several aspects of the course. This study takes existing paper based homework assignments and transitions them into a social network site, Spicipe.com. By first evaluating student attitudes toward the paper based system and then evaluating attitudes after the treatment toward the social network system this study was able to conclude that there is a statistically significant difference between value of the paper based system and value of the Spicipe system. Students showed a strong preference for the social network system and these results held true across several majors

Marshall University Music Department Presents a Joint Junior Recital, Luke Miller, baritone saxophone and Andrew Winter, guitar

https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/1555/thumbnail.jp

Fishing Without a Scale

Our study looks at different species of fish and uses their cross-length and volume to find correlations in weight among the different fish. The different type of fish that we compare include perch, pike, parkki, whitefish, bream, roach, and smelt. The dependent variable that we are using is weight. Once we predict the weight of the individual fish, we will also compare that weight to other fish species. The result of the data are that there is linearity, where the adjusted R squared is between 0.94 and 0.97, depending on our model. Therefore, 94 to 97 percent of the variability in a fish’s weight is explained by the regressors. For this first regressor, using volume, there was a correlation of 0.97 between the volume and the different types of fish. Then, for just the length (not length squared) and the different types of fish, there was a correlation of 0.94. In this study, we found that this method of estimating the weight of the fish before they are actually weighed on a scale was found to be most effective for box-shaped fish and not as effective for normal-shaped fish

Importance of Behavior and Morphological Traits for Controlling Body Temperature in Littorinid Snails

For organisms living in the intertidal zone, temperature is an important selective agent that can shape species distributions and drive phenotypic variation among populations. Littorinid snails, which occupy the upper limits of rocky shores and estuaries worldwide, often experience extreme high temperatures and prolonged aerial emersion during low tides, yet their robust physiology—coupled with morphological and behavioral traits—permits these gastropods to persist and exert strong grazing control over algal communities. We use a mechanistic heat-budget model to compare the effects of behavioral and morphological traits on the body temperatures of five species of littorinid snails under natural weather conditions. Model predictions and field experiments indicate that, for all five species, the relative contribution of shell color or sculpturing to temperature regulation is small, on the order of 0.2–2 °C, while behavioral choices such as removing the foot from the substratum or reorienting the shell can lower body temperatures by 2–4 °C on average. Temperatures in central California rarely exceeded the thermal tolerance limits of the local littorinid species during the study period, but at sites where snails are regularly exposed to extreme high temperatures, the functional significance of the tested traits may be important. The mechanistic approach used here provides the ability to gauge the importance of behavioral and morphological traits for controlling body temperature as species approach their physiological thresholds

In-Lieu Fee Program Case Studies: Lessons Learned for Potentially Expanding In-Lieu Fee Habitat Coverage in Virginia

This white paper contains case studies of coastal ILF [in-lieu fee] programs across the United States: Maine Natural Resources Conservation Program (“MNRCP”), Northwest Florida Water Management District (“NWFWMD”) ILF Program, Keys Restoration Fund (“KRF”), Sacramento District California ILF Program, Maryland Department of the Environment ILF Program, and Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund (“VARTF”). The Conclusion will provide general recommendations and questions to consider in deciding whether and how to implement an in-lieu fee program for wildlife habitats in Virginia. Each program has a unique regulatory structure and method for selecting projects on which to spend their funds. The programs do tend to face similar challenges and provide similar benefits. Common challenges include securing buy-in from private landowners and completing the state and federal permit processes for mitigation projects by the third growing cycle after selling credits. Despite these frequent hurdles, program sponsors have observed that the programs streamline the permitting process for developers, which reduces the cost of building new projects. ILF programs allow for larger, more impactful mitigation projects, instead of proceeding by a piecemeal approach where the permittees must compensate for only their own environmental impacts. This abstract has been taken from the authors\u27 introduction

A Tide Prediction and Tide Height Control System for Laboratory Mesocosms

Experimental mesocosm studies of rocky shore and estuarine intertidal systems may benefit from the application of natural tide cycles to better replicate variation in immersion time, water depth, and attendant fluctuations in abiotic and edaphic conditions. Here we describe a stand-alone microcontroller tide prediction open-source software program, coupled with a mechanical tidal elevation control system, which allows continuous adjustment of aquarium water depths in synchrony with local tide cycles. We used this system to monitor the growth of Spartina foliosa marsh cordgrass and scale insect herbivores at three simulated shore elevations in laboratory mesocosms. Plant growth decreased with increasing shore elevation, while scale insect population growth on the plants was not strongly affected by immersion time. This system shows promise for a range of laboratory mesocosm studies where natural tide cycling could impact organism performance or behavior, while the tide prediction system could additionally be utilized in field experiments where treatments need to be applied at certain stages of the tide cycle