The Cougar Repository
This repository, hosted by the College of Charleston Libraries, holds a variety of scholarship produced by students from the Graduate School and the Honors College.
Communities in DSpace
Select a community to browse its collections.
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Recent Submissions
Item
INVESTIGATING FERTILIZATION TRENDS IN TWO SPECIES OF THREATENED STONY CORAL IN THE FLORIDA KEYS
Parsons, Emily
Acropora cervicornis and Orbicella faveolata are important reef-building coral species in the Florida Reef Tract (FRT). These species have experienced alarming declines throughout the FRT, resulting in an increased risk of inbreeding depression and susceptibility to decreased fitness in surviving colonies. Both A. cervicornis and O. faveolata are broadcast spawners, introducing genetic diversity through sexual recombination of gametes during annual spawning events. Successful reproduction during this time is critical for curbing the deleterious effects of inbreeding depression, and in successfully restoring colonies to self-sustaining levels of genetic diversity in the wild. A critical step in the reproductive cycle of these species is the success of gamete fertilization following mass spawning events. Several abiotic causes of gametic incompatibilities have been reliably observed in these species, and incompatibility between certain genotypes has been shown to occur. With the goal of adding to the body of knowledge currently available for practitioners of assisted reproduction for these species, this study further investigates potential factors affecting fertilization success by analyzing four sets of fertilization data from pairwise crossing experiments carried out for A. cervicornis and three sets of fertilization data for O. faveolata over two separate years in the Florida Keys. Findings in this study suggest factors affecting fertilization success differ between the two species, with O. faveolata displaying consistently high rates of fertilization across both years, while further investigation is needed into the roles of gamete directionality, gamete age, and genetic relatedness in the fertilization success of A. cervicornis.
Item
EXAMINING TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF BENTHIC MICROALGAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN A SOUTH CAROLINA SALTMARSH
Waters, Josiah C
Benthic microalgae (BMA), like other microbes, have long been thought to be cosmopolitan in time and space, limited only by environmental conditions. More recently, it has been found that BMA do exhibit spatial and temporal dispersal limitations, and while the drivers and patterns of spatial dispersal limitation have been studied to some extent, studies examining temporal variation in BMA communities are lacking. In this study, DNA metabarcoding was used to characterize diatom communities at three temporal scales (seasonal, lunar phase, and tidal cycle) over one year. Several environmental parameters (31) were measured in order to identify potential drivers of any observed variation. Significant differences in community structure, biomass, and α-diversity were observed across season, particular lunar phases, and certain tidal cycles. Purely temporal and purely environmental factors did have some effect, but BMA community variation seemed to be primarily directed by temporally-structured environmental events and stochastic (or unmeasured) processes. These results show that time and environmental conditions worked together to produce fairly predictable patterns in BMA variability (at least at larger temporal scales). While further studies are necessary, it is possible that this increased understanding of BMA community variation will allow researchers to predict BMA and ecosystem changes in response to changes in the environment.
Item
Secret Keepers
Lusk, Elise
A loosely connected collection of six inventive tales, Secret Keepers whisks readers to a one-stoplight town in the vast and desolate flatlands of the Texas Panhandle. Here a little girl goes to a branding birthday party and transforms into a branded calf; A sister conjures her missing sibling through an American Girl Doll; The owners of an ultra-viral giraffe ranch abandon the business in the hands of their teenage son while they wine and dine their way through a press tour; A devoted believer wakes the morning after she loses her virginity with a sprawling mark that threatens to reveal her secret. At times speculative, wholly weird, and wildly entertaining, Secret Keepers investigates Southern coming of age from the perspective of a region and people largely unknown.
Item
ENHANCING INTERPRETATION OF CETACEAN ACOUSTIC MONITORING: INVESTIGATING FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE VOCALIZATION PATTERNS OF ATLANTIC BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS (Tursiops truncatus) IN AN URBANIZED ESTUARY, CHARLESTON HARBOR, SOUTH CAROLINA, USA
Tribble, Caroline Maria
The Charleston Harbor, South Carolina (SC) is a major port that experiences high levels of vessel traffic. Historical analyses of bottlenose dolphin sightings identified multiple core-use areas in the harbor that overlap with these anthropogenic activities. Informed by these long-term spatial data, from December 2017 to June 2019, passive acoustic monitoring, visual surveys, prey sampling were conducted to assess the relationships and multivariate interactions that may influence dolphin vocalization patterns. Vocalizations varied spatially and temporally, peaking in fall and winter months coinciding with decreases in water temperature and daylight hours, following patterns previously reported in other SC estuaries. Dolphin prey and total fish abundance decreased with water temperature, which may indicate that dolphins echolocate and whistle more frequently in the winter months, when prey are scarce and sound-producing species are less soniferous. Dolphin sightings and vocalizations were highly correlated; dolphin occurrence was highest in the areas surrounding the confluence of the Cooper and Rivers, along the shipping channel, where vessel and sound-producing fish detections were greatest. When vessel noise occurred, dolphins increased their vocalizations, which suggests that this species may be modifying its acoustic repertoire in response to increased noise levels. Multivariate interactions indicate strong spatial and seasonal patterns in vocalization rates that may be associated with dolphin and prey abundance as well as noise-induced redundancy.
Item
EXAMINING TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF BENTHIC MICROALGAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN A SOUTH CAROLINA SALTMARSH
Waters, Josiah C
Benthic microalgae (BMA), like other microbes, have long been thought to be cosmopolitan in time and space, limited only by environmental conditions. More recently, it has been found that BMA do exhibit spatial and temporal dispersal limitations, and while the drivers and patterns of spatial dispersal limitation have been studied to some extent, studies examining temporal variation in BMA communities are lacking. In this study, DNA metabarcoding was used to characterize diatom communities at three temporal scales (seasonal, lunar phase, and tidal cycle) over one year. Several environmental parameters (31) were measured in order to identify potential drivers of any observed variation. Significant differences in community structure, biomass, and α-diversity were observed across season, particular lunar phases, and certain tidal cycles. Purely temporal and purely environmental factors did have some effect, but BMA community variation seemed to be primarily directed by temporally-structured environmental events and stochastic (or unmeasured) processes. These results show that time and environmental conditions worked together to produce fairly predictable patterns in BMA variability (at least at larger temporal scales). While further studies are necessary, it is possible that this increased understanding of BMA community variation will allow researchers to predict BMA and ecosystem changes in response to changes in the environment.