Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Chemistry

My dissertation research develops Raman spectroscopy-based sensors to measure aspects of human and plant health or disease states at the point of need, specifically in areas where current sensing methods are insufficient. The first main project area involves monitoring plant health, specifically soil ecology, in real time without harvesting the plant. Sensors are needed to non-invasively observe chemical changes expressed in plant leaves which result from nutrition conditions in the soil. These sensors would be especially useful to inform fertilization practices, increasing efficiency and sustainability. The second major project area focuses on developing a rapid and accurate diagnostic assay for COVID-19. The limitations of established testing methods, such as at-home antigen tests and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, motivate the exploration of alternative techniques that do not sacrifice accuracy for speed. To tackle these sensing challenges, my research employs Raman spectroscopy, which uses light to probe the molecular composition of a sample. Each molecule has a unique Raman signature, and Raman signal is proportional to the concentration of molecules present in the sample, making the technique highly advantageous for identification and quantification. Raman signals can be collected quickly and non-destructively with minimal sample preparation. To detect low concentrations of analytes or poorly scattering analytes, we use surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), a technique in which metal nanostructures amplify the Raman signals of the molecules near the nanostructures. Overall, this dissertation work focuses on optimizing portable Raman and SERS methods to non-invasively assess plant health and to detect COVID, all in a matter of seconds. Chapter 1 introduces the background and motivation for these projects, as well as the analytical techniques used to address them. Chapter 2 describes the development of handheld Raman techniques to monitor th (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Zachary Schultz (Advisor) Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Chemistry

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Fungus-farming ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini: Attina; ca., 250 species) are obligately associated with a mutualistic fungal cultivar that hosts a diverse extracellular bacterial microbiome which helps degrade forage material brought in by the ants. The bacteria in these gardens help turn nitrogen-poor forage material into nutritious food for the ants by performing a variety of essential metabolic functions the ants cannot perform themselves, such as breaking down cellulose and fixing nitrogen. However, it is not well understood what proportion of this bacterial community is transmitted by fungus-farming ant queens when they choose a garden fragment from their natal colony before mating. Further, nitrogen-fixing bacteria have only been studied in the derived fungus-farming ant genus Atta so it remains unclear whether these bacteria are also associated with other fungus-farming ants. The objectives of the studies in this thesis are to investigate the potential for vertical transmission of garden bacteria and assess the presence of nitrogen-fixing bacteria outside of the genus Atta. The first chapter of this thesis is a general introduction to insect bacterial symbioses and fungus-farming ants. The second chapter is a completed manuscript which is a culture-independent study that characterizes vertically transmitted bacterial communities associated with four species of higher attine ants (i.e., garden inocula, queen guts, ovaries and thoraxes). This study uses 16S rRNA metabarcoding to characterize and compare bacterial community membership and relative abundance. We found that the microbiota of garden inocula and queen tissues (gut and ovaries) vary across ant species (p<0.001) and garden inocula only contain a subset of bacterial taxa consistently found in gardens. The third chapter is a culture-dependent study in which I isolate and identify putative nitrogen fixing bacteria from the garden of the fungus-farming ant species Sericomyrmex amabilis. I used nitr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Rachelle Adams (Advisor); Alison Bennett (Committee Member); Zakee Sabree (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Microbiology

Master of Science in Botany, Miami University, 2022, Biology

To test the complementarity of partner rewards and context dependency in a multispecies mutualism, we used the Chamaecrista fasciculata system comprising the focal plant species and four mutualist partner groups: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, rhizobia bacteria, ants, and pollinators. We manipulated the presence of mycorrhizae, rhizobia, ants, and two watering conditions (dry and wet). We anticipated all partners would benefit plants and that multiple partners would confer synergistic benefits to plant fitness. We found that only when all three partners were present, did plants receive synergistic benefits, while two partner combinations produced subadditive effects. The visitation or abundance of some mutualist partners was affected by the presence of at least one other partner. Additionally, we observed that the effects of ants and mycorrhizae on their partners were contextually dependent on the watering treatment of the plants. Overall, our analyses show that partner composition and diversity can have unexpected effects and that mutualist interactions have the potential to shift under future climate change and affect the fitness of the focal plant species in ways we might not expect.

Committee: Martin Stevens (Advisor); David Gorchov (Committee Member); Jonathan Bauer (Committee Member) Subjects: Botany; Ecology

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Biological Sciences

The fungi in the genus Ambrosia are associated with wood boring ambrosia beetles. These beetles bore extensive galleries into the sapwood of the host wood while relying on the fungal symbiont as a source of nutrition, however the mechanism behind this is not completely understood. In this study, the ambrosia fungus was isolated from the mycangia of a female ambrosia beetle. The fungus was observed to be filamentous with dense aerial mycelia and filiform colony margins. Molecular identification was conducted based on the sequence of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and 5.8S rRNA gene. Sequence analysis by BLAST, sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis indicated that the isolate belongs to Ambrosiella grosmanniae of the family Ceratocystidaceae. It was hypothesized that A. grosmanniae produces extracellular enzymes involved in the degradation of woody polysaccharides and antimicrobial substances important for its survival against other microorganisms in the gallery. The capability of the fungus to breakdown cellulosic components of the wood was demonstrated by agar plate method to measure regions of enzyme activity and Dinitrosalicylic assay method to measure reducing sugar concentration in liquid media using carboxymethylcellulose as substrate with Saprolegnia parasitica, a known cellulase producer, was used as a positive control. The antibiotic activity of the fungal extracts was analyzed by testing against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Shigella flexneri and Escherichia coli. An antibiotic chloramphenicol was used as a positive control. Antibiotic activity was observed against Bacillus subtilis and Shigella flexneri. The results obtained in this study indicate that A. grosmanniae is a dominant fungal symbiont of the ambrosia beetle Xylosandrus germanus, possesses cellulase activity and produces compounds that confer a competitive advantage on the fungi in the gallery.

Committee: Vipaporn Phuntumart Ph.D. (Advisor); Paul Morris Ph.D. (Committee Member); Scott Rogers Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Microbiology; Molecular Biology

Master of Science in Mathematics, Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Ectomycorrhizal fungi engage in nutrient exchanges outside the cells of plants [16]. This symbiotic relationship is important in healthy forest ecosystems, and also serves to help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by providing long lasting carbon storage [9]. Current models of mycelial growth focus mostly on the dynamics of hyphal tip growth from a central or uniform nutrient source. These models lack a "seeking" behavior observed in the mycelium as it grows through areas of low nutrient density to find pockets of higher nutrient densities. They also lack the flexability to adapt to new research about mycelial networks. A new agent-based model is proposed to investigate nutrient seeking as a catalyst for growth.

Committee: Alicia Prieto-Langaricia PhD (Advisor); Padraic Taylor PhD (Committee Member); Jozsi Jalics PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Mathematics

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Humans spend more than 90% of their time indoors, yet we know little about the health effects of the indoor environment. A healthy body is one of the founding goals of architecture, and throughout history, architecture responds to both the scientific technology of the era and the diseases that plague it. In the 21st century, increasingly hermetic building envelopes have disconnected the inhabitant from the ecological and environmental systems of the exterior in an attempt to assert tighter environmental control. New research and technology in microbiology points to the advancement of these envelopes as a major factor in reduction of microbial biodiversity in the indoor environment and the human body. This is implicated in a number of negative human health outcomes, most notably sick building syndrome and allergy. Psychologically, the hermetic envelope isolates the body and mind from the meteorological, physical, and temporal systems of the environment. These separations from this set of systems points to a necessary evolution of understanding space and the body, where a hermetic envelope disrupts the continuous ecology and environmental connection to the context. To understand this disconnection, I define a set of three major systems of the environment- Biological systems, Atmospheric systems, and Polychronic systems. These systems, architectural responses to them, their current disconnection, and potential reconnections are examined in this paper. I propose a design for a home that incorporates and builds on the concepts and objects examined for each system as a basis for design, radically altering existing typologies to provide a new concept of the body and space as continuous ecology, reveal the environmental conditions of space, and develop architectural forms that act as indicators and recorders of the local environment.

Committee: Edward Mitchell M.Arch (Committee Chair); Vincent Sansalone M.Arch. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Microbiology

Cockroaches as a model system allow us to explore a self-contained microbial community of incredible complexity, with the gut alone housing numerous members of the Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea, often in close symbiotic association with one another. This diversity provides us with the opportunity to examine a plethora of microbe/microbe and microbe/host interactions, with recent work in this area reviewed here. The ease of rearing the cockroach and its great resilience allows us to look at the cockroach as a blank slate, in the absence of gut microbiota, and set a baseline for growth through the establishment of germ-free insects. Assembling an aseptic isolation habitat of low cost and complexity is shown to aid in the maintenance of germ-free insects and allows for the selective reintroduction of gut bacterial isolates to the cockroach. The germ-free cockroach provides the potential to systematically examine interactions between the cockroach and the diversity of life that can be isolated from within the gut of the insect. In this work the germ-free cockroach is inoculated with gut microbiota through coprophagy and compared to wild-type cockroaches to examine the degree to which this behavior serves to provision the gut with symbiotic taxa, and examine the extent of bacterial stimulation of growth and development in wild-type compared to germ-free insects. A brief inoculation by coprophagy appears to endow cockroaches with a subset of the wild-type microbial community that is sufficient to induce growth phenotypes of the hindgut that are significantly different from, but intermediate to germ-free and wildtype cockroaches. Histological sectioning along the gut further refines the site of microbial stimulation of host gut development to the posterior midgut and anterior hindgut. Finally, several closely related and strongly host-associated cockroach gut Bacteroides are examined in relation to common mammalian gut Bacteroides, to examine to what (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Zakee Sabree PhD (Advisor); Kelly Wrighton PhD (Committee Member); Virginia Rich PhD (Committee Member); Adams Rachelle PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Evolution and Development; Microbiology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Nutritional symbioses between bacteria and insects are prevalent, diverse, and have allowed insects to expand their feeding strategies and niches. It has been well characterized that long-term insect-bacterial mutualisms cause genome reduction resulting in extremely small genomes, some even approaching sizes more similar to organelles than bacteria. While several symbioses have been described, each provides a limited view of a single or few stages of the process of reduction and the minority of these are of extracellular symbionts. This dissertation aims to address the knowledge gap in the genome evolution of extracellular insect symbionts using the stink bug – Pantoea system. Specifically, how do these symbionts genomes evolve and differ from their free-living or intracellular counterparts? In the introduction, we review the literature on extracellular symbionts of stink bugs and explore the characteristics of this system that make it valuable for the study of symbiosis. We find that stink bug symbiont genomes are very valuable for the study of genome evolution due not only to their biphasic lifestyle, but also to the degree of coevolution with their hosts. In Chapter 1 we investigate one of the traits associated with genome reduction, high mutation rates, for Candidatus `Pantoea carbekii' the symbiont of the economically important pest insect Halyomorpha halys, the brown marmorated stink bug, and evaluate its potential for elucidating host distribution, an analysis which has been successfully used with other intracellular symbionts. We find that while increased mutation rates are present, the symbiont loci are not as effective as host loci for these studies. In Chapter 2 we sequenced and analyzed the genomes of four tropical stink bug symbionts belonging to the genus Edessa. The four symbionts show similar levels of genome reduction, reaching 0.8 Mb, five times smaller than the closest free-living relative and over 20% smaller than the genome of P. carb (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Zakee Sabree (Advisor); Rachelle Adams (Committee Member); Norman Johnson (Committee Member); Laura Kubatko (Committee Member) Subjects: Bioinformatics; Biology

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2019, Art

This writing and research shares an edited form of the dialogue presented in The Unknown and the Unnamed, a performance held at Urban Arts Space in Columbus, Ohio. The Unknown and the Unnamed is a hybrid performance drawing from a range of forms including the educational lecture, the artist talk, family slideshow evenings, the memoir and the scientific research paper. How do we live in the world knowing we could address climate breakdown? How are bodies—non-human and human—impacted by a culture of progress, human industry and capitalist expansion? Centering around a local Australian native orchid collection—created by self-described recluse and amateur botanist Philip John Branwhite—I investigate the natureculture narratives of Australian native orchids, and their ecological, scientific and political entanglements. Weaving local and academic forms of knowledge—through voice, images, video and sound The Unknown and the Unnamed speaks to the interconnectedness of experience, the way human and non-human bodies make and unmake each other and the memory of place in a time of post-colonial settlement. Please note, this writing relies heavily on images which are not depicted in this thesis.

Committee: Gina Osterloh (Advisor); Ann Hamilton (Committee Member); Michael Mercil (Committee Member); Juno Salazar Parreñas (Committee Member) Subjects: Botany; Ecology; Environmental Justice; Environmental Studies; Evolution and Development

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2019, Journalism

This thesis tracks former al-Qa`ida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra's media strategy between 2011 and 2016, applying Dr. Gadi Wolfsfeld's political contest model, and theorization of “news value” therein, to situate this strategy relative to the organization's material and sociopolitical health. More specifically, it attempts to identify “news value” crises arising from territorial losses, lapses in political control, and failures of image management, and account for Jabhat al-Nusra's variable interactions with media personnel in these periods. This project also complicates prevailing notions of a monolithic “post-classical” public relations by demonstrating that Jabhat al-Nusra's media strategy deviates from the allergy to dialogue associated with this tradition. In applying PCM and post-classicism simultaneously, it seeks to investigate the relationship between material power and media power while contesting notions of a homogeneous, mediated Salafi-jihadism, exemplified by the performative brutality of Islamic State. As a corollary, it intends to demonstrate the enduring analytic viability of the political contest model in the wake of new media, suggesting that the so-called media-militant symbiosis has survived Twitter and other disruptive platforms wielded by insurgent and/or terrorist organizations.

Committee: Ziad Abu-Rish (Advisor); Bernhard Debatin (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Modern History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

Nuclear movement is a widely conserved phenomenon throughout eukaryotes. In animals, it is known to be necessary for developmental events ranging from nematode neurogenesis to fly eye development. Plant nuclei move in a range of cell types during many developmental events and in response to several environmental stimuli. However, the mechanisms of nuclear movement in plants have only recently begun to be characterized. In animals, nuclear movement is dependent on linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complexes, which are comprised of outer nuclear membrane (ONM) Klarsicht/ANC-1/Syne-1 (KASH) proteins and inner nuclear membrane (INM) Sad/UNC-84 (SUN) proteins. These two proteins bridge the nuclear envelope (NE) via the interaction of KASH proteins and SUN proteins in the NE lumen. While plants do not encode homologs of animal KASH proteins, functional analogs of animal KASH proteins have been identified. The first to be identified were Arabidopsis thaliana WPP domain-interacting proteins (WIPs). These proteins interact in the ONM with their binding partners, the WPP domain-interacting tail-anchored (WIT) proteins, and in the NE lumen with Arabidopsis SUN proteins. Together, a LINC complex comprised of SUN, WIP, and WIT is necessary for proper nuclear movement and nuclear morphology in root hairs and vegetative nuclear movement in pollen tubes. However, many other instances of nuclear movement have been described in plants that have yet to be functionally characterized. One of these as-yet-uncharacterized instances of nuclear movement occurs during the initiation of rhizobial symbiosis, or nodulation. To understand the role of nuclear movement in this legume-specific phenomenon, I bioinformatically identified a host of LINC complex components in the model legume Medicago truncatula. LINC complex components were then verified by determining their localization in both Nicotiana benthamiana and M. truncatula and establishing that the KASH proteins interact w (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Iris Meier (Advisor); Anita Hopper (Committee Member); Stephen Osmani (Committee Member); Aman Husbands (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Botany; Cellular Biology; Genetics; Plant Biology; Plant Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Most broadly, this study aimed to develop a better understanding of how organisms evolve novel functions and traits, and examine how seemingly complex adaptive trait syndromes can convergently evolve. As an ideal example of this, the carnivorous plants were chosen. This polyphyletic grouping contains taxa derived from multiple independent evolutionary origins, in at least five plant orders, and has resulted in striking convergence of niche and morphology. First, a database study was performed, with the goal of understanding the evolutionary trends that impact carnivorous plants as a whole. Using carnivorous and non-carnivorous plant genomes available from GenBank. An a priori list of Gene Ontology-coded functions implicated in plant carnivory by earlier studies was constructed via literature review. Experimental and control samples were tested for statistical overrepresentation of these functions. It was found that, while some functions were significant in some taxa, there was no overall shared signal of plant carnivory, with each taxon presumably having selected for a different subset of these functions. Next, analyses were performed that targeted Sarracenia alata specifically. A reference genome for S. alata was assembled using PacBio, Illumina, and BioNano data and annotated using MAKER-P with additional preliminary database filtration. From these, it was found that Sarracenia alata possesses significant and substantial overrepresentation of genes with functions associated with plant carnivory, at odds with the hypothesis that the plant primarily relies on symbioses. Finally, pitcher fluid was collected from S. alata in the field. RNA was extracted from the fluid, sequenced via Illumina, and assembled with Trinity. Sequences were sorted into host plant and microbiome based on BLAST match to the S. alata reference genome. It was found that, while S. alata contributes two-thirds of the transcripts, these encode no digestive enzymes and a very limited set o (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Bryan Carstens Ph.D. (Advisor); Marymegan Daly Ph.D. (Committee Member); Zakee Sabree Ph.D. (Committee Member); Andrea Wolfe Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Bioinformatics; Biology; Botany

Master of Science, Miami University, 2018, Biology

Enteric bacteria contribute to nitrogen balance in diverse vertebrates because they produce urease, the enzyme needed to liberate nitrogen from urea. Although this system of urea-nitrogen recycling is as yet unknown in Amphibia, this study of the wood frog (Rana sylvatica), a terrestrial hibernator that is strongly hyperuremic during winter, documented robust urease activity in bacteria inhabiting the hindgut. Despite a ~33% reduction in the number of bacteria, ureolytic capacity in hibernating winter frogs was superior to that of active summer frogs, and was further enhanced by experimentally augmenting urea within the host. Bacterial inventories constructed using 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that the assemblages hosted by hibernating and active frogs were equally diverse but markedly differed in community membership and structure. Approximately 38% of the 96 observed bacterial genera were exclusive to one or the other group. Although ~60% of these genera possess urease-encoding genes and/or have member taxa that reportedly hydrolyze urea, hibernating frogs hosted a greater relative abundance and richer diversity of ureolytic organisms, including, notably, species of Pseudomonas and Arthrobacter. Amphibians, in whom urea accrual has a major osmoregulatory function, likely profit substantially by repurposing the nitrogen liberated from the bacterial hydrolysis of urea.

Committee: Jon Costanzo (Advisor); Richard Lee Jr. (Advisor) Subjects: Biology; Physiology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Understanding the patterns and processes that generate and maintain biodiversity is the key pursuit of evolutionary biology. The field of phylogeography attempts to bridge the gap between phylogenetics and populations genetics, and reveal the underlying historical and biogeographic mechanisms of the divergence process itself. In a comparative framework, phylogeography seeks to identify the shared historical processes that promote population and species level diversification. Largely missing from the comparative phylogeographic literature are experimental frameworks that account for abiotic and biotic factors, as many taxa engage in highly specialized interactions that can have profound impacts on evolutionary history. Accounting for biological traits can thus identify the relative contributions of abiotic versus biotic process across ecosystems, the origin and maintenance of ecological communities, and increased power to evaluate top-down hypotheses about the generation of biodiversity. Tropical coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, and inherently reliant on highly specialized symbioses that represent millions of years of evolutionary interactions. Long-term, stable, ecological associations generate an a priori hypothesis of concordant phylogeographic history among interacting species, yet the degree of specificity and fidelity within these associations should lead to varying degrees of shared biogeographical histories. Using a common sea anemone symbiosis on coral reefs from the Tropical Western Atlantic, I test the hypothesis that variation in host specificity, across five co-occurring crustacean species symbiotic with sea anemones, predicts levels of phylogeographic concordance with their shared host, the corkscrew anemone Bartholomea annulata. First, in Chapters 2-6, using DNA barcodes and high-throughput DNA sequencing, I demonstrate that three of the five nominally described, focal crustacean species, are actually cryptic species (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Marymegan Daly (Advisor); John Freudenstein (Committee Member); Bryan Carstens (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Arts and Sciences : Germanic Languages and Literature

This dissertation is a survey and analysis of German-Jewish love stories, defined as romantic entanglements between Jewish and non-Jewish German characters, in German literature and film from the 1980s to the 21st century. Breaking a long-standing taboo on German-Jewish relationships since the Holocaust, there is a spate of such love stories from the late 1980s onward. These works bring together members of these estranged groups to spin out the consequences, and this project investigates them as case studies that imagine and comment on German-Jewish relations today.Post-Holocaust relations between Jews and non-Jewish Germans have often been described as a negative symbiosis. The works in Chapter One (Rubinsteins Versteigerung, “Aus Dresden ein Brief,” Eine Liebe aus nichts, and Abschied von Jerusalem) reinforce this description, as the German-Jewish couples are connected yet divided by the legacy of the Holocaust. Similarly, Die Haut retten and “Die Beschneidung” (Chapter Two) reflect doubt about the ability for Jews and non-Jewish Germans to connect, but introduce non-Jewish German protagonists who disassociate themselves from Nazism and/or a negative German identity. The films of Chapter Three (Comedian Harmonists, Aimee & Jaguar, Viehjude Levi, Rosenstrasse) seek to bridge the divide between Jewish and non-Jewish Germans. They portray individual German exceptions to Nazism through sympathetic female German partners romantically involved with Jews. Works in Chapter Four (Das judische Begrabnis, Schalom meine Liebe, Eduards Heimkehr) likewise disassociate German lovers from perpetration. These works suggest that positive German-Jewish relationships are possible by finding exceptions to perpetration. In Chapter Five, texts (“Harlem Holocaust,” “Finkelsteins Finger,” Deutsche Einheit) revolve around sexual encounters in which both partners manipulate the Holocaust legacy, indicating unfinished business between the two groups. German and Jewish characters' self-servin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Katharina Gerstenberger (Committee Chair); Dr. Todd Herzog (Committee Member); Dr. Sara Friedrichsmeyer (Committee Member) Subjects: German literature

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2010, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology

Ants (Formicidae) have long been an insect group of great interest to the scientific world, whether for their ecological roles, feeding strategies, or social behaviors. They form complex colonies, harboring resources that can potentially be exploited by myrmecophiles (organisms living in association with ants). Myrmecophily has been studied in detail for Coleoptera, but mites (Acari), the most frequent of ant guests, remain largely unstudied. Previous work has focused primarily on descriptions and has provided little ecological information. The first study is an effort to provide a more robust list of the often overlooked inhabitants of ant nests focusing on Ohio, a state that has yet to be mentioned in any myrmecophilous mite studies. A general survey of common Ohio ants was conducted from April 2008-March 2010. Phoretic mites were individually removed from ants and debris in 273 colonies. Mite collections totaled 198 species: 151 species phoretic and at least 47 mite species in non-phoretic relationships within the ant nests. Phoretic mites consisted of representatives of the cohort Astigmata (Histiostomatidae and Acaridae), the cohort Heterostigmatina (Scutacaridae, Pygmephoridae, and Microdispidae), and the suborder Mesostigmata (Laelapidae, Antennophoridae, and Uropodina). Many mite species were host specific and attachment site specific. An unusually large number of mite species was found to be associated with the ant genus Lasius, possibly the result of social parasitism. Post hoc statistical analyses show significantly greater mite diversity in colonies when 1) in the ant subfamily Formicinae, 2) the colony is in the woods, 3) the nest substrate is wood, 4) the colony is populous, 5) the ants are large, and 6) the ant species establishes its nest parasitically. A second study focused on the seed harvester ant Messor pergandei and its acarine associates. At least seven mite species are phoretically associated with M. pergandei: Armacarus sp., Lemanniella sp. (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Hans Klompen PhD (Advisor); Susan Jones PhD (Committee Member); Steven Rissing PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Entomology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2006, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

A spontaneous Phaseolus vulgaris mutant was isolated that selectively restricts nodulation. This recessive mutation exhibits a phenotype that has never been seen before with beans and is a perfect tool to study the symbiotic relationship and the associated signaling molecules between legumes and Rhizobia. The goal of this dissertation was to characterize the mutant bean's morphology and nodulation capacity. Rhizobial screening was done to examine how many different strains of Rhizobia were able to nodulate the mutant bean. The bean was examined for phenotypic characteristics and then examined for how the mutation was affecting nodulation. This was done by using green fluorescently labeled bacteria to visualize steps in the nodulation process and by chemical isolation and characterization of the signals involved in forming the symbiosis. This research also examined the overall competitiveness of strains with the ability to nodulate the mutant bean. A final experiment used Tn5 mutagenesis of USDA 2669 to determine if any novel signaling molecules were present in the excluded strain. It was determined that the mutant P. vulgaris had no deleterious phenotypic characteristics and that three strains of Rhizobia, USDA 9017, USDA 9032 and USDA 9041, had the ability to nodulate the mutant. It was also demonstrated that the mutation blocked nodulation before the formation of infection threads and therefore was affecting the plant's perception of the bacterial signal.

Committee: Allan Showalter (Advisor) Subjects: Biology, Molecular

Master of Science, Miami University, 2010, Botany

Members of the genus Nostoc are the most commonly encountered cyanobacterial partners in terrestrial symbiotic systems. The objective of this study was to determine the taxonomic position of the various symbionts within the genus Nostoc, in addition to examining the evolutionary relationships between symbiont and free-living strains within the genus by analyzing the complete sequences of the nitrogen fixation (nif) genes. NifD was sequenced from thirty-two representative strains, and phylogenetically analyzed using the Maximum likelihood and Bayesian criteria. Such analyses indicate at least three well-supported clusters exist within the genus, with moderate bootstrap support for the differentiation between symbiont and free-living strains. Our analysis suggests 2 major patterns for the evolution of symbiosis within the genus Nostoc. The first resulting in the symbiosis with a broad range of plant groups, while the second exclusively leads to a symbiotic relationship with the aquatic water fern, Azolla.

Committee: Susan Barnum PhD (Advisor); Hank Stevens PhD (Committee Member); Nancy Smith-Huerta PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Botany; Microbiology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2007, German

The Shoah has forever bound Germans and Jews. Of Germany's contemporary German-language Jewish writers, Rafael Seligmann (1947 - ) is one of the most controversial and first writers to depict daily life in post-Shoah Germany for Jewish and non-Jewish Germans. This paper examines the constructs of German-Jewish negative symbiosis discourse in three of Seligmann's novels: Rubensteins Versteigerung (1989), Die jiddische Mamme (1990) and Der Musterjude (1997). The protagonists in Seligmann's works exhibit characteristics supporting Dan Diner's German-Jewish negative symbiosis (1986), Katja Behren's “rift” (2002) and Todd Herzog's (2000) conclusion that a positive German-Jewish hybrid identity is not possible. This paper posits that a German-Jewish negative symbiosis – German-Jewish hybrid identity continuum is the most accurate description of Seligmann's protagonists. This continuum recognizes that people come to terms with identity issues at varying speeds, as we see in Seligmann's characters and their levels of acceptance of the German part of themselves.

Committee: Christina Guenther (Advisor) Subjects: