The Ohio Journal of - The Ohio Academy of Science

A-32 The Ohio Journal of Science
Vol. 112(1)
range in the Cumberland Plateau and Mountains.
Sequences totaling approximately 1200 base pairs for
the 12S valine transfer and cytochrome oxidase I portion
of the mitochondrial genome were analyzed to delimit
evolutionary relationships within this group. Maximum
likelihood was used to reconstruct the phylogeny, and
revealed a large polytomy with no pylogenetic structure
and low statistical support on the nodes. These finding
suggest that a recent bottleneck or founder effect may have
impacted D. welteri populations. There was no indication
of distinguishable morphological characteristics detected
among the individuals distributed across geography.
Ecological niche modeling (i.e., current climate) showed
that abiotic requirements of temperature and precipitation
limit the geographic distribution of D. welteri. However,
paleo-niche (i.e., 21K years ago) modeling combined with a
maximum likelihood estimate of ancestral origin revealed
that D. Welteri may have originated in eastern Kentucky
and then experienced a range expansion into regions of
Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The Black-bellied
Salamander, Desmognathus quadramaculatus, was used
for phylogenetic comparison; there are at least four times
more mutation in D. quadramaculatus when compared
to D. welteri. This suggests that D. quadramaculatus
even though northern populations were largely without
phylogenetic structure, has experienced stabile population
structure in southern populations, but experienced a
recent range expansion, yielding the current phylogenetic
structure.
Poster Board 060 THE SPECIES PROFILE OF LOTIC FISH
COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY LANDSCAPE LEVEL SURFACE
MINING DEGRADATION. Jesse E. Hardval jhardval@
muskingum.edu, (James L. Dooley Jr. jdooley@muskingum.
edu), Jenise Bauman jbauman@thewilds.org. Muskingum
University, 163 Stormont St, New Concord OH 43762.
Deforestation in riparian buffers has been shown to in
crease stream temperature. Water temperature increases
alter metabolism, growth rates, inter-specific competition,
susceptibility to disease and mortality of aquatic organisms.
Deforestation can also change species profiles by increasing
nutrient levels leading to increased algal production and
loss of oxygen. In an area that has been surface mined
and a significant percentage of trees have been removed,
elevated temperature can be a driver of changes to the fish
diversity patterns. The goal of this research is to develop
a species profile at several sites and streams within The
Wilds in Cumberland, Ohio. The Wilds is an area that has
experienced deforestation due to landscape level surface
mining occurring over 25 years ago. The Wilds is now a
wildlife conservation center containing over nine thousand
acres of degraded land. There are several streams on the
property, and species profiles for the streams have never
been completed. Specimens will be collected from stream
sites by use of seine nets. Physical stream characteristics
such as temperature, upstream riparian length, left and
right bank riparian width, and reach length have also been
recorded. Twelve seinings have occurred at four different
sites. Suitable sites were characterized by a run or pool
immediately downstream from a moderate to fast ripple.
One hundred and twenty four specimens have been netted,
with eight species being identified and six hybrid sunfish
specimens. Site 1with a mean temperature of 17.33 °C
was dominated by minnow species (Cyprinidae), as was
expected due to previous literature. All other sites were
dominated by sunfish species particularly, green sunfish
(Lepomis cyanellus) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), at
average temperatures of 18.67 °C, 16.33 °C, and 17.67 °C
respectively.
Poster Board No. 061 VEGETATIVE RESPONSE TO
ARCHEOLOGICAL DISTURABANCES IN A MIXED MESOPHYTIC
FOREST IN EASTERN OHIO. Bethany J. Blakely, b-blakely.2@
onu.edu, Magda M. Molnar, m-molnar@onu.edu, Emily A.
Nebgen, e-nebgan@onu.edu, (Robert G. Verb, r-verb@onu.
edu). Department of Biological and Allied Health Sciences,
Ada, OH 45817.
Both anthropogenic and natural disturbances impact
terrestrial plant communities. Often, these disturbance
events lead to an increased rate of colonization by invasive
plant species. Archeological investigations often yield
insightful and beneficial information about the former
inhabitants and cultures. However, the techniques
employed in unearthing this information can disrupt and
disturb a given habitat. This investigation examined the
response of the herbaceous and woody plant communities
to previous site disturbances in a mixed mesophytic woods
in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. On September 9-10, 2011 a
total of 62sites (31archaeologically disturbed, 21 naturally
disturbed, 10 undisturbed) were analyzed. Point-centered
quarter method sampling was employed to quantify the
woody specimens in the vicinity of each site while a 1-m 2
plot was used to evaluate the understory vegetation.
Comparisons between sites impacted by the archeology digs
will be contrasted to those less disturbed locales through
the use of exploratory analyses (e.g., correspondence
analysis) and ANOVAs.
Poster Board No. 062 RHEOTACTIC BEHAVIOR OF GIANT
DANIO, DEVARIO AEQUIPINNATUS, PERSISTS IN THE DARK.
Rohan Bhimani rohanb@falcon.bgsu.edu, Joseph Coleman
colemaj@falcon.bgsu.edu, Sheryl Coombs scoombs@falcon.
bgsu.edu Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green
State University, Bowling Green, OH 43402.
Rheotaxis - orientation with respect to an on-going
current - has many proposed benefits, including energetic
costs savings and enhanced interception of downstream
planktonic drift. At low flow speeds (< 1 body length
(BL)/s), the flow-sensing lateral line is thought to play a
dominant role in this behavior. At higher flow speeds (>~
1 BL/s), visual cues tend to dominate. Recent findings
indicate that large schools (N>4) of giant danio exhibit
enhanced rheotaxis compared to solitary fish. In this
study, we investigate the sensory basis of this difference
by testing solitary (N = 1) and grouped fish (N=8) at two
flow speeds, one below and one above 1 BL/s, and in both
light (vision enabled) and total darkness (vision disabled).
Unlike solitary fish, which were randomly oriented,
grouped fish exhibited positive rheotaxis (heading +/- 45 0
of upstream for > 60% of total test time) in the light at
both low (0.8 BL/s) and high (2.0 BL/s) flow speeds. Groupsize
effects disappear in the dark, as both solitary and
grouped fish exhibit similar levels of positive rheotaxis in
the dark at both flow speeds. These results are consistent
with the idea that when light is present, visual cues from
neighboring schoolmates are important to the improved
rheotactic performance of groups of fish, but that in the
dark, the group-size effect fades as fish switch from visual
to non-visual sensing modalities.
Poster Board No. 063 USING THE zEBRAFISH (DANIO RERIO)
TO EXAMINE GENE EXPRESSION REGULATION OF THE MOUSE
SMALL HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN ALPHA B CRYSTALLIN. zachary
Haley (zhaley@ashland.edu), Mason Posner (mposner@
ashland.edu). Ashland University, Department of Biology/
Toxicology, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, OH 44805.
Alpha B crystallin is a ubiquitously expressed vertebrate
small heat shock protein that prevents the stress-induced
aggregation of other cellular proteins. Its expression
increases in neurological disorders and numerous cancers.
The alpha B crystallin gene is highly expressed in mouse
lens as well as many other places throughout the body.
Previous studies in zebrafish have shown that deletions of
upstream promoter elements of the alpha B crystallin gene
deceased expression in muscle and nervous tissue without
affecting eye lens expression. These studies have begun
to identify tissue specific enhancing regions in the alpha
B crystallin promoter. The project hypothesized that
injection of modified mouse alpha B crystallin promoter
constructs could be used to drive green fluorescent protein
(GFP) expression in embryonic zebrafish, providing a
fast throughput model system for investigating promoter