Challenging Boundaries: Investigating the relationship between human persecution and Coyote behavior in California

Steven Childs, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

This study seeks to examine the relationship between coyote behavior and proximity to areas of public lands where hunting frequently takes place and cosmopolitan areas where coyotes are generally free from being huntedover time using California Department of Fish and Wildlife Wildlife Incident Report data. Insights gained are intended to inform targeted management strategies, aiding in conservation and coexistence efforts between humans and coyotes. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to addressing the pressing challenges of human-wildlife conflict, a pervasive issue with far-reaching implications.

Change in Snowmelt Timing and its Effects on the Green-up Timing of Mixed Conifer Forests

Tully Leonard, Computer Science Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Shifts in the timing of snow-pack melt influences the phenological cycles of evergreen forest in the Sierra Nevada mountain range; this can lead to potential alterations in the timing and duration of green-up in these forests. This can affect the forest’s resilience to ecological disturbances, like wildfires or insect outbreaks. In order to investigate these patterns this study uses data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), which monitors the green-up of the forest and the snow depth. In addition, the snow water equivalent (SWE) data from the National Water and Climate Center (NWCC) was used to approximate the amount of snow-pack water available to the vegetation.

Characterization of a Novel Endocellulase Enzyme for Biofuel Optimization

Amanda Ratcliff, Chemistry Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Currently food crops are used to produce bioethanol production, while plant waste cellulose could be used. However, cellulase enzymes are a limiting factor. We sought to characterize a novel cellulase identified by metagenomic analysis of bovine rumen by the JGI and Hess et al. We performed protein expression, genomic analysis, and characterization by SDS-PAGE, CMC and DNS activity assays, and electron microscopy of cellulose degradation. Our data indicates the cellulase is an endoglucanase with an activity of 6.27 cm2/ug, or 6x higher than commercial cellulase enzymes. These results have implications for creating efficient biofuels from agricultural waste products versus the current methods

Characterization of a Novel Endocellulase to Optimize Biofuel Production

Layla Beck , Chemistry Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Bioethanol is a biofuel already prevalent throughout industry as a gasoline additive. It is widely considered carbon neutral since the carbon released upon combustion was taken from the CO2 in the air and made into cellulose during photosynthesis. Starchy or sugary food crops are used in bioethanol production when plant waste cellulose could be used instead. Efficient and scalable cellulase enzymes are limiting this switch. We sought to characterize a novel cellulase identified by metagenomic analysis of bovine rumen by the JGI and Hess et al. We performed protein expression and characterization by SDS-PAGE, CMC and DNS activity assays to compare this enzyme’s efficacy to commercial ones.

Characterization of Anabaena Sensory Rhodopsin Bound Nanodiscs via Western Blotting

Celeste Diepenbrock, Chemistry Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Anabaena sensory rhodopsin (ASR) is a light-sensitive transmembrane protein found in the cyanobacterium Anabaena Nostoc. Membrane proteins have proven difficult to study due to their insolubility and tendency to form aggregates in aqueous environments. Nanodiscs are small protein structures that assist in the study of insoluble proteins. In this experiment, self-assembled ASR-bound nanodiscs were purified by Ni-NTA Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC). Native gel electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE, western blotting, and absorption spectroscopy were used to detect Anabaena sensory rhodopsin and the scaffolding protein, ApoAI, in the prepared nanodisc sample.

Characterization of Photosynthetic Productivity and Growth in A.Thaliana Mutants

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

This project studies photosynthetic phenotypes of six Arabidopsis Thaliana mutants under fluctuating light intensity and flat light intensity chambers. Photosynthetic and biomass results from this study have possible implications for these mutants' mechanisms of light energy quenching and heat release. Further investigations into these implications could identify genes that are responsible for high photosynthetic productivity in A. Thaliana, leading to their implementation in important plants for biofuel and crop production.

Characterizing the genetic diversity of immune genes in a non-native population of American Bullfrogs in Humboldt County, California

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

The American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is a highly invasive species that has successfully colonized different habitats around the world. The level of genetic variability in a population may help determine how resistant a population is to pathogens and how persistent an invasive population may be over time. Our project’s objective was to isolate and characterize the genetic diversity of a rapidly evolving immune gene in an invasive bullfrog population near the Mad River in Humboldt County, CA. We isolated four genetically distinct alleles from 16 frogs. When included with alleles from related species, we detected positive selection acting on putative binding sites.

Characters Influencing Plethodontid Salamander Microhabitat Selection

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Work was done studying mirohabitat selection of two local plethodontid salamander species, Batrachoseps attenuatus (California slender salamander), and Ensatina eschscholtzii (common ensatina). Results imply that the most significant factor is the relative humidity of the microhabitat.

Chemical Fingerprinting of Sanidine from Long Canyon Dome, Sierra Nevada, California

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

The Long Canyon Dome (LCD) is a 185 ka rhyolite dome in south-central Sierra Nevada, California. The rhyolite pumice from the pre-eruption contains less SiO2 and a different mineralogy, than the rhyolite magma erupted from LCD. This suggests the dome was tapping into two different rhyolite magma bodies during one eruption, or a hotter rhyolitic magma intruded into a cooler magma, triggering the eruption. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy’s (EDS) point and shoot method was used to measure the chemical signature of sanidine crystals in pre and post eruption sample. The rhyolite pumices’ at LCD represents similar but slightly different magmas compositions.

Choose to Reuse at Humboldt State University

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

The project is about plastic pollution in our oceans, the zero waste movement, and the new choose to reuse campaign on campus.