We analyze the morphological and genetic variability within and between seven species of Acesta and specimens recently collected in the northwest Atlantic using traditional morphological measurements, landmark-based geometric morphometrics, and the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences, with particular emphasis on North Atlantic species. Shell morphology and external shell appearanc...

This study sought to assess mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity and phylogeographic structure of chickens from five agro-ecological zones of Zimbabwe. Furthermore, chickens from Zimbabwe were compared with populations from other geographical regions (Malawi, Sudan and Germany) and other management systems (broiler and layer purebred lines). Finally, haplotypes of these animals were aligned to c...

A recent emergence of Cryptococcus gattii in the Pacific Northwest involves strains that fall into three primarily clonal molecular subtypes: VGIIa, VGIIb and VGIIc. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and variable number tandem repeat analysis appear to identify little diversity within these molecular subtypes. Given the apparent expansion of these subtypes into new geographic areas and their ab...

We investigated the genetic structure of early benthic juveniles of the spiny lobster Palinurus elephas in the northwest Mediterranean Sea by means of ten polymorphic microsatellite markers. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling coupled with assignment tests were used as a new approach to further delimit a reference population inside a genetically homogeneous pool of individuals and test for the ...

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is endemic in Northwest and southern Iran. Reports of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Northwest areas are rare, and its etiological agents are unknown. In the current study, we report six CL and two post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) cases caused by Leishmania infantum from endemic areas of VL in the Northwest. Smears were made from skin lesions of 30 suspect...

2015 2 Acknowledgements I am grateful for the continuous support and guidance of my advisor, Jimmy Roberts. I would also like to thank Professors Michelle Connolly and Tracy Falba for their helpful feedback and revisions as my honors seminar instructors. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my classmates in my honors seminar for their valuable comments during class presentations. Abstract In an...

There are several indigenous ethnic populations along the silk road in the Northwest of China that display clear differences in culture and social customs, perhaps as a result of geographic isolation and different linguistic traditions. However, extensive trade and other interactions probably facilitated the admixture of different gene pools between these populations over the last two millennia...

Tree-ring records from western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis var. occidentalis Hook.) growing throughout the interior Pacific Northwest identify extreme climatic pointer years (CPYs) (i.e., severe single-year droughts) from 1500–1998. Widespread and extreme CPYs were concentrated in the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries and did not occur again until the early 20th century. The 217-yr ...

The nutrient cycles of coastal upwelling zones are studied with simple mass balance models of Ekman transport, longshore transport, surface productivity, and dissolved phosphorous. The models are constrained with data from the Peru, northwest Africa, and Oregon upwelling systems. The onshore-offshore mass balance model agrees with published Ekman transport, surface productivity, and nutrient da...

BACKGROUND Many coastal species occupying the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest in North America comprise endemic populations genetically and ecologically distinct from interior continental conspecifics. Morphological variation previously identified among wolf populations resulted in recognition of multiple subspecies of wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Recently, separate genetic s...