Binding of volatile flavor compounds to purified soy proteins in an aqueous model system

A headspace technique was used to examine the binding of a series of volatile carbonyl compounds to highly pure soybean glycinin and B-conglycinin. Small amounts of polar lipid (\u3c0.23%) were bound to the protein even after extensive purification. Sodium azide (0.02%) was found to greatly increase the binding constant for hexanal to glycinin. Increasing ionic strength caused changes in the number of binding sites for glycinin and number of sites and binding constant for B-conglycinin. The addition of 2-mercaptoethanol to create mildly reducing conditions did not affect the binding parameters. The number of binding sites and affinty of the carbonyls studied were greater for glycinin than B-conglycinin at 20° and 30°C. Thermodynamic parameters indicated that the binding reactions were entropy driven for the series of homologous aldehydes and ketones studied. Hexane was found to bind at 5C but not at 20° or 30°C. The 1,8-acrylaminopthalenesulfonate binding suggested that protein unfolding occurred 5°C. There were small changes in the Orange G reactive lysine after hexanal binding to the proteins. Binding of the flavor compounds may cause conformational changes which increase the binding of further molecules

Obligatory Leaf Litter Spiders: An Ignored Guild?

There are over 100,000 described species of arachnids in the world; these include spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, etc. There are some 45,000 described species of spiders worldwide, with 3,800 species known from within the United States. Spiders can be classified into several guilds, including sensing web weavers, sheet web weavers, space web weavers, orb web weavers, specialists, ambush hunters, and ground hunters. A guild for spiders is defined as a group of spiders that exploit similar resources using similar behaviors in the same habitat. We are interested in assessing the spiders that are obligatory leaf litter dwellers – these are spiders that spend their entire lives within the tight spaces of the forest floor leaf litter. These spiders, as adults are extremely small, 1-3 mm in length, and only occur in a habitat that is largely ignored by most arachnologists. Therefore, for this project, we are interested in assessing the biodiversity of spiders that are obligatory leaf litter inhabitants. Obligatory leaf litter spiders may represent an ignored guild of spiders. To date, we have identified 13 families of leaf litter dwelling spiders, but only five families we consider obligatory leaf litter inhabitants. These include spiders from the families Cybaeidae, Gnaphosidae, Liocranidae, Lycosidae, and Salticidae. We are only examining mature male and female spiders since these are most likely obligatory leaf litter dwellers. The most abundant families include both Liocranidae and Lycosidae, with Salticidae and Gnaphosidae being the least abundant.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2023/1043/thumbnail.jp

Seasonal Abundance and Sex Ratio of Earwigflies (Merope tuber) in Eastern Kentucky

The earwigfly is a rarely seen insect in the family of scorpionflies. There are three species total, one in Brazil, one in Australia, and the third (Merope tuber), widespread throughout the eastern United states. In a 1984 study, Chris Maier collected 69 earwigflies between 1977 and 1982 from New England. Most of these were collected in July using sticky traps. He collected 43 females and 26 males (sex ratio 2.4:1). In a 2014 study, Skvarla, Hartshorn, and Dowling collected 77 earwigflies from Arkansas, mostly in August using malaise traps, pan traps, Lindgren funnels, and pitfall traps. They collected 58 females and 24 males (sex ratio 1.65:1). Over the course of two field seasons in 2011 and 2012, we collected over 500 earwigflies from pan traps, which is the largest collection in the world that we know of. We collected 339 females and 165 males, which is roughly a 2.05:1 sex ratio. It seems that earwigflies in Eastern Kentucky are most abundant in late August and early September. Our results are similar to those of Maier and Skvarla, Hartshorn, and Dowling with their smaller data sets. We plan to use statistical analysis to better evaluate seasonal variance of earwigflies.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2022/1008/thumbnail.jp

Investigating Rowan County Lepidoptera biodiversity, part five: Nymphalidae and Riodinidae

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1027/thumbnail.jp

Morphometrics of the Rare Earwigfly Merope tuber

Merope tuber Newman (Mecoptera: Meropeidae) is a rare North American species of earwigfly, which is closely related to common scorpionflies. “Earwigfly” refers to three different species: the Western Australian Austromerope poulton, the South American Austromerope brasiliensis, and finally, the Eastern North American Merope tuber. This last species was the focus of our study. Johnson’s 1995 study was based on 160 earwigflies, where he measured the female abdomen length, male and female forewing length, and male basistylus and dististylus length. In their 2014 study, based on 82 earwigflies, Skvarla, Hartshorn, and Dowling measured head width, pronotum width, forewing length, abdomen length, basistylus length, and dististylus length. In our study of 504 earwigflies, we are measuring head width, pronotum length, pronotum width, pterothorax length, abdomen length, forewing length, basistylus length, and diststylus length. This project was started in February, at this point we have measured about 2/5 of the specimens. This collection of 504 earwigflies is most likely the largest collection of any earwigflies in the world, and provided an excellent dataset for a comprehensive morphometric analysis. We plan to incorporate morphometrics to our measurements and seek to corroborate our results with previous findings.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2022/1007/thumbnail.jp

The Kentucky Ant Project: An Attempt to Catalogue the Ant Species of Kentucky

There are 74 ant species in Kentucky and 55 ant species in West Virginia. In most of the surrounding states, ant species counts are nearly double, or at least 49 more ant species than either of these two states. This indicates that there have been minimal sampling efforts in Kentucky and West Virginia.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2023/1021/thumbnail.jp

A Potential New Way to Reduce Bed Bug Infestations: Arthroshield 880

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1086/thumbnail.jp

A Meta-Analysis of Quantitative Collecting Techniques for Spiders

Quantitative sampling of organisms is often used to provide information in ecological studies, monitor populations, and aid in biodiversity projects. Many studies involve the quantitative sampling of spiders. In this meta-analysis study, 207 peer-reviewed journal articles formed the basis of an initial data set for a quantitative analysis of spider collection techniques. Data collected included country of study, mode of study, trapping techniques used, spider diversity, and number of specimens collected. Our meta-analysis gathered research articles that included 33 different countries of study. Trapping techniques greatly vary depending on the habitat in which spiders dwell. These were divided into aerial, arboreal, terrestrial, and subterrestrial. From the gathered data, 5% of the articles included aerial trapping, 20% included arboreal trapping, 1% included subterrestrial trapping, and 80% included terrestrial trapping. 60% of the terrestrial studies utilized pitfall trapping, 20% used hand collecting, 15% used sweep netting, and 5% used branchbeating.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2022/1033/thumbnail.jp

Preliminary Study On Beetle Biodiversity And Its Role As A Metric For Ecosystem Heterogeneity In The Rowan County Area

Biodiversity is important for maintaining ecosystem function, including the adaptation of the organisms to reflect the change in the ecological community. Many ecological roles are performed by insects, including keystone organisms, ecosystem engineers and soil modifiers, part of the food chain, general symbionts, and pollinators, and creating a cumulative database of the variety of insect types allows for an effective overview of the different aspects of the environment from which samples are collected. With approximately 400,000 described species, beetles are immensely diverse in their lifestyles and ecological roles, thus making them valuable tools in environmental assessments of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. It also means that they provide a robust set of data for metrics of biodiversity. This preliminary study focuses on ground beetles, which are important as bioindicators of habitat conditions and ecosystem heterogeneity, in Rowan County, Eastern Kentucky across three locations. Methods of quantitatively collecting samples include light traps, pitfall traps, leaf sifting, and pan traps. The primary method used in this study was leaf sifting and Berlese funnel, which is used to extract small insects and arthropods from leaf litter and other debris. Collected data are often analyzed using statistical analysis (ANOVA) that emphasizes the abundance of individuals, functional analysis that explores the diversity of different functional groups, or through various indices, including the Simpson and Shannon indices, that measure the richness and abundance of species.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2021/1032/thumbnail.jp

Beetle Diversity: A Comparison of the Biodiversity of Ecotone vs. Woods Surrounding Morehead State’s Eagle Lake

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1200/thumbnail.jp