February 2009

Defense of Proposals

Paulo C. Olivas, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. S. Oberbauer), presented his dissertation proposal entitled “The synergetic response of arctic ecosystems to surface warming and hydrological manipulation” on February 25th.

Publications

Adriana Galvis, M.S. candidate (major advisor: Dr. M.A. Barbieri) co-authored the following papers:

Galvis A, Giambini H, Villasana Z, Barbieri MA. 2009. Functional determinants of ras interference 1 mutants required for their inhibitory activity on endocytosis.
Exp Cell Res. 315: 820-35.

Galvis A, Balmaceda V, Giambini H, Conde A, Villasana Z, Fornes MW, Barbieri MA. 2009. Inhibition of early endosome fusion by Rab5-binding defective Ras interference 1 mutants. Arch Biochem Biophys. 482: 83-95.

Anna Goldina, Ph.D. candidate and alumna Susan J Allee, Ph.D. (major advisor: Dr. P. Stoddard) co-authored the following paper:

Markham MR, Allee SJ, Goldina A, Stoddard PK. 2009. Melanocortins regulate the electric waveforms of gymnotiform electric fish. Horm Behav. 55:306-13.

Cary Pirone, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. D. Lee) co-authored the following paper:
Pirone C, Quirke JM, Priestap HA, Lee DW. 2009. Animal Pigment Bilirubin Discovered in Plants. J Am Chem Soc. 2009 Feb 10. [Epub ahead of print]

Grants

Jay Munyon, M.S. candidate (major advisor: Dr. E. Gaiser) was awarded the SERC Christina Menendez Fellowship for $5,000.

Kelsey Reider, M.S. student (major advisor: Dr. M. Donnelly) received $300 from the Chicago Herpetological Society to help support her project entitled "Do peccaries drive community changes in a Neotropical leaf litter herpetofauna?" and a Research Fellowship from the Organization for Tropical Studies to support her project:: “Enigmatic declines of amphibians and reptiles at La Selva: are collared peccaries (Tayassu tajacu) drivers of community change?”.

Presentations at Meetings

Several of our graduate students presented at the 2009 Biology Research Symposium on February 7 at the Marine Biology building in the Biscayne Bay building.

Oral Presentations:
Richard Y Chang, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. F. Jochem)
Population structure in the Calanoid copepod Paracalanus quasimodo along the southeastern coasts of the United States.

Adriana Galvis, M.S. candidate (major advisor: Dr. M.A. Barbieri)
Functional Determinants of Ras Interference 1 Mutants Required for their Inhibitory Activity on Endocytosis.
Anna Goldina, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. P. Stoddard)
Endocrine regulation of dynamic communication signals in Gymnotiform fish.
Justin Nowakowski, Ph.D. student (major advisor: Dr. M. Donnelly)
Matrix effects on aquatic vertebrate assemblages in cypress domes.

Elizabeth Lacey, Ph.D. student (major advisor: Dr. J. Fourqurean)
The influence of keystone herbivore recovery and anthropogenic nutrient input on macroalgae: determining the resilience of a Mexican Caribbean tropical coral reef
Kelsey E Reider, M.S. student (major advisor: Dr. M. Donnelly)
Effect of body size on intraguild predation between tadpoles of bamboo–breeding poison frogs and predaceous mosquito larvae.

Nicole A Villaverde, M.S. student (major advisor: Dr. M.A. Barbieri)
The role of Rab proteins on adipogenesis.
Steven M Whitfield, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. M. Donnelly)
Do Litter Dynamics Regulate Population Densities of Amphibians and Reptiles in a Sharply Declining Terrestrial Herpetofauna?
Zachary R Jud, Ph.D. student (major advisor: Dr. C. A. Layman)
The diet of age-0 tarpon in Indian River Lagoon mosquito control impoundments: examining dietary composition in relation to size and habitat.

Zayda B Halun, Ph. D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. J. Fourqurean)
Effects of fertilization and grazing on seagrass community structure in Florida Bay.

Aaron W Miller, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. L. Richardson)
The effect of elevated temperature and sediment loading on the coral Montastraea cavernosa and the progression rate of black band disease.

Adam E Rosenblatt, Ph.D. student (major advisor: Dr. M. Heithaus)
Trophospatial dynamics of the American alligator.

Adam Obaza, M.S. candidate (major advisor: Dr. J. Trexler)
Effectiveness of Drift Fences in Modeling Fish Movement Rates.

Kristin Kuehl, M.S. candidate (major advisor: Dr. L. Richardson)
Differences in virulence of black band disease (BBD) of two species of the host coral Diploria on Bermuda Reefs.

Clifton B Ruehl, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. J. Trexler)
Separating Consumptive and Non-consumptive Predator Effects in the Presence of Nutrient Enrichment

Jeremy J Vaudo, Ph.D. candidate (major advisor: Dr. M. Heithaus)
Some like it hot: factors influencing microhabitat use of sympatric batoids.

Poster Presentations

Steven M Whitfield, Karen R. Lips and Maureen A. Donnelly.
Decline and Conservation of Amphibians in Central America.

Marcy K Lowenstein, Denisse Diaz and Lidia Kos.
Interaction between the transcription factor Sox10 and Endothelin receptor B in the melanocyte lineage.

Amy Saldana Tavares and Lidia Kos
Endothelin receptor b (Ednrb) expression pattern and role in the developing murine central nervous system.

Justin E Campbell and James W Fourqurean
Interspecific variation in the isotopic and elemental content of seagrasses in South Florida.

Paulo C Olivas, Steven F Oberbauer, Craig Tweedie, and Jose Luciani
Interactive Effects of Water level and Temperature on Tundra Carbon Flux Components.

Rebecca J Bernard
Effects of light and nutrient supply on stable isotope composition and fractionation in N-limited seagrass beds

Jorge Bello, Amanda Torres, Rebecca Bernard, Ligia Collado-Vides and James W Fourqurean
Comparing primary production of calcareous green macroalgae in contrasting estuarine scenarios in Florida Bay

Cary Pirone, James M. E. Quirke, Horacio A. Priestap, David W. Lee.
Bilirubin in the White Bird of Paradise Tree.

Awards

The following students received awards in the Biology Symposium:

Steven Whitfield, Ph.D. candidate, for best oral presentation
Anna Goldina, Ph.D. candidate, honorable mention in the oral category
Zachary Jud, Ph.D. student, honorable mention in the oral category
Paulo Olivas, Ph.D. candidate, for best poster presentation

Alumni News

Laura May-Collado has published the following paper:

May-Collado LJ Wartzok D 2009 A characterization of Guyana dolphin (Sotala guianensis)whistles from Costa Rica: the importance of broadband recording systems. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125: 1202-1213.

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