Browsing by Subject "Yellowstone National Park"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Factors affecting elk (Cervus elaphus) encounter rate by gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Yellowstone National Park
    (2016-05) Martin, Hans
    Few studies of wolf predation have quantified wolf encounter rates of prey and the factors that influence them. Elk population decline, variable weather, and changing wolf-pack dynamics on the Northern Range (NR) of Yellowstone National Park (YNP) provide an opportunity to examine factors affecting wolf-elk encounter rates and their role in wolf hunting success. Wolf kill rate is influenced by several factors but not by elk density. However, I found that elk density seems to be the only factor that drives wolf-elk encounter rates, and encounter rates are somewhat correlated with hunting success at least during early winter. Thus the factors affecting wolf hunting success of elk on the NR of YNP do not explain variation in encounter rates. Wolves appear to be able to adjust their hunting behavior to compensate for all the factors predicted to affect encounter rates except for elk density.
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    Hot spring water, biofilm, and contextual samples from Yellowstone National Park collected under Permit YELL-2022-SCI-7020 by Havig and Hamilton for publication support of submitted manuscript on nitrogen isotope and nifH data.
    (2024-09-19) Havig, Jeff R.; Hamilton, Trinity L.; jhavig@umn.edu; Havig, Jeff R.; MAD EGG LAB and The Fringe Lab, Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology, UMN
    This data has been generated by Dr. Jeff R. Havig and Dr. Trinity L. Hamilton, Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota. The data compiled in this spreadsheet represents water geochemistry and biofilm molecular data collected under Yellowstone Permit YELL-2022-SCI-7020, used for submitted publication "Between a Rock and a Soft Place: Biomass δ15N Values of Hot Spring Microbial Communities and Their Potential for Preservation in the Rock Record", submitted March, 2024 to JRG Biogeosciences by Havig and Hamilton. Any publications that use this data are requested to cite the final accepted paper.
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    Investigation and Identification of Novel Hyperthermophilic Manganese(II)-Oxidase from Purple Pool Yellowstone National Park
    (2022-10) Tozaki, Naoto
    Manganese (Mn) oxides are some of the strongest naturally occurring oxides in nature, playing an important role in geochemical cycling, and living systems. Several theories on the role of Mn in microbial systems exist, but there is not enough supporting evidence to provide a strong argument for these theories. Understanding the role of Mn in microbial systems will allow for further investigations into the evolution of early life, defensive mechanisms, and electron transfer systems in microbes. Preliminary sequence data of biofilms and enrichments of biofilms collected from a Mn-depositing hot spring (102ºC) in Yellow Stone National Park (YNP), have yielded findings that suggest a novel hyperthermophilic archaea may be responsible for the accumulation of Mn(III/IV) oxides within the hot spring. There are currently no known hyperthermophilic archaea that is capable of oxidizing Mn(II), an investigation into the properties of the Mn oxidizing properties will have wide impacts in fields of early life, bioremediation, and industry. The investigation will involve biofilm studies, to study its role in Mn oxidation mechanisms, and also in Mn oxide morphologies as a respect of Mn concentration and flow rate. These studies would be useful in biomarker analysis in Mn containing geological features, most notably in YNP. A bioinformatics component of the investigation will involve an investigation of the genome and mapping of possible gene sequences responsible for Mn oxidation. The Mn oxidase genes will then be further contextualized by constructing metabolic pathways of the genomes. The biochemical component will include the isolation and expression, and synthesis of the proteins from the sequenced identified for Mn oxidation. As a protein originating from hyperthermophilic archaea, it is hypothesized that it will have retained activity in high temperatures. These hypothesis will be tested by running activity assays, in respect to product/intermediate formations. In addition, denaturation conditions will be tested to examine the durability of the protein structure. Characterization of the novel Mn oxidation components of the thermophilic archaea will be impactful in fields of environmental science, bioinorganic chemistry, and industry.