Listing of MS Theses

2022 Theses

Britteny Berumen (Advisor: Dr. Mark Bland) Comparing Public and Private High School Biology Teachers’ Acceptance and Teaching of Evolutionary Theory in Arkansas

Misty Boatman (Advisor: Dr. Mark Bland) Assessing Evolution Education in Public Schools in the State of Arkansas: Is the Light On?

Zachariah Degon (Advisor: Dr. Arijit Mukherjee) Investigating the Genetic Pathways Regulating Growth Promotion and Salt Tolerance During Interactions Between Non-Legume Plants and Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria

Michael Deutsch (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Non-Consumptive Effects on Prey Physiology, Maternal Investment, and Offspring Phenotypes in the Prairie Lizard

Kira Gibbs (Advisor: Dr. Tammy Haselkorn) The Effect of Season and Microhabitat on Social Amoeba Diversity and Symbiont Prevalence

Meghan Jones (Advisor: Dr. Kari Naylor) Analyzing the Relationship Between the Mitochondria and the Cytoskeleton in Mitochondrial Dynamics

Joseph Miller (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams and Dr. Reid Adams) Status, Distribution, and Detectability of the Peppered Shiner (Notropis Perpallidus) in Arkansas

Benjamin O’Connell (Advisor: Dr. Erin Wiley) The Interactive Effects of Heatwaves and Defoliation on Quercus Palustris Performance and Drought Tolerance

Jackson Renfroe (Advisor: Dr. Ben Cash) Survey of Bee Communities in Differently Managed Sites in Central Arkansas

2021 Theses

John Cook (Advisor: Dr. Arijit Mukherjee) Characterization of Molecular Responses During Associations Between Rice and Different Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria

Stephany Crabtrey (Advisor: Dr. Kari Naylor) Honey’s Influence on the Antibiotic Susceptibility and Virulence Factory Activity of Seven Pathogenic Bacteria Species

Taylor Dague (Advisor: Dr. Amrita Puri) Semantic and Perceptual Processing in Visual Search and Ensembles

Tori Hebert (Advisor: Dr. Hal Halvorson) Land Use Effects on Nutrient Limitation, Priming Effects, and Detritivore Feeding in a Central Arkansas Watershed

Joshua Hines (Advisor: Dr. Tammy Haselkorn) Optimizing Molecular Methods for Determining Aquatic Hyphomycete Community Membership in a Salinity Gradient: A Microcosm Study

Billy Huggins (Advisor: Dr. Mindy Farris) Vitamin D3 Promotes Longevity in Caenorhabditis Elegans

Kristyn Killian (Advisor: Dr. Kari Naylor) Identifying Binding Proteins of FszA and FszB in Dictyostelium Discoideum

Sarah Martin (Advisor: Dr. Vickie McDonald) Determination of Bat Species’ Use of Artificial Bark Enhanced Habitat at Select Sites in North and Central Arkansas

Danny Morrill (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams and Dr. Reid Adams) Temporal Trends in Fish Assemblage Structure in the Current River Drainage, Missouri over Eighty Years

Justin Mosbey (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) A Reproductive Life History of the Arkansas Prairie Lizard (Sceloporus Consobrinus)

Lucus Ratz (Advisor: Dr. Jeff Padberg) Thalamocortical Connections of Electrophysiologically-Defined Auditory Cortex in the Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus Novemcinctus)

Joseph Redinger (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Effect of a Top Predator (Crotaphytus Collaris) on Prey Populations, Community Structures, and Ecosystem Function in Ozark Glades

Calvin Rezac (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams and Dr. Reid Adams) Spatiotemporal Response of Fish Communities in the Spring River Basin, Arkansas to Chronic Pasture Land-Use

2020 Theses

George Gavrielides (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams, Dr. Reid Adams, and Dr. Matt Connolly) Examining Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Fish Assemblage Structure in the Eleven Point River Drainage Basin, Arkansas After Forty Years

Katherine Lang (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Performance Tradeoffs in the Prairie Lizard: A Multilevel Approach

Eleni Sallinger (Advisor: Dr. Tammy Haselkorn) The Bacterial Microbiomes of Social Amoebae

Grant Wiggins (Advisor: Dr. Arijit Mukherjee) Using Molecular Genetic Approaches to Investigate the Associations Between Rice and Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria, Azospirillum Brasilense

2019 Theses

Danielle Braund (Advisors: Dr. Sally Entrekin and Dr. Katherine Larson) Agricultural Type and Amount: Resources and Habitat Interact to Affect Nutrient Concentrations and Macroinvertebrates in Headwater Streams

Andrew Feltmann (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) The Effect of Selection and Drift on Phenotypic Diversification in the Eastern Collared Lizard

Landon Gatrell (Advisor: Dr. Mindy Farris) Glucose Availability Impacts Proteotoxic Stress in Caenorhabditis Elegans

Samantha Hewett (Advisor: Dr. Kari Naylor) Both Manuka and Non-Manuka Honey Types Inhibit Antibiotic Resistant Wound-Infecting Bacteria

Jennifer Main (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams and Dr. Reid Adams) Fish Assemblage Dynamics in The Strawberry River, Arkansas, in Relation to Land-Use Changes and Farm Pond Proximity Within The Watershed

Anastasia Mogilevski (Advisors: Dr. Sally Entrekin and Dr. Katherine Larson) Changes to Microbial and Shredder Activity Are Ion-Specific with Unclear Consequences to Overall Stream Detrital Processing

Mason Rostollan (Advisor: Dr. Leah Horton) Characterization of Environmental Health Risks in Kanembwe, Rwanda

Heather Saco (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams and Dr. Reid Adams) Changes in Land Use and Fish Community Composition in Four Ozark Highland Streams over Four Decades

Brooke Skinner (Advisor: Dr. Jeff Padberg) Retinal Projections in the Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus Novemcinctus)

Brianna Trejo (Advisor: Dr. David Dussourd) Impact of Girdling on Time and Energy Allocation in Notodontid Caterpillars

2018 Theses

Amber Anderson (Advisors: Dr. Matt Gifford) Determinants of Dispersal in the Ouachita Dusky Salamander, Desmognathus Brimleyorum

Aaron Burgad (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams and Dr. Reid Adams) Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Fish Community Structure During Watershed Alteration in Two Ouachita River Systems

Nicholas Dial (Advisors: Dr. Rick Noyes and Dr. Katherine Larson) The Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Mediating Heavy Metal Tolerance and Accumulation in Two Plant Species

Michelle Furr (Advisors: Dr. Ginny Adams and Dr. Reid Adams) Changes in Fish Assemblage Patterns over 40 Years in Two West Central Arkansas Rivers

Angela Lenard (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Mechanisms Influencing Countergradient Variation in the Prairie Lizard, Sceloporus Consobrinus

Sage Shaddox (Advisor: Dr. Brent Hill) The Effects of Microgravity on Vascular Tone in Female Mice

Geoffry Spooner (Advisor: Dr. Reid Adams) The Migration Dynamics of the Ohio Shrimp, Macrobrachium Ohione, in the Lower Mississippi River

2017 Theses

Ethan Clement (Advisor: Dr. Calin Marian) In Vitro OCT4 and NANOG Expression in Senescent Human Foreskin Fibroblasts

Lori Monday (Advisor: Dr. Ben Cash) Associations Between Corticosterone Physiology and the Proportion of Melanism on the Plastron in Red-Eared Slider Turtles (Trachemys Scripta Elegans)

Marci Polett (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Effects of Embryonic Environment on Offspring Phenotype and Fitness in Sceloporus Consobrinus

Chris Robinson (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Proximate and Ultimate Mechanisms Underlying the Evolution of Color

Stephanie Stoughton (Advisor: Dr. Sally Entrekin) Components of Urbanization and Urban Proximity Influence Water Quality in Low Gradient, Headwater Streams

Jacklyn Thomas (Advisor: Dr. Arijit Mukherjee) Molecular Genetic Analyses of the Formation of Nodule-like Structures and Beneficial Rice-Bacterial Interactions

2016 Theses

Lucy Baker (Advisor: Dr. Sally Entrekin) Landscape Natural Characteristics Interact with Human Activities to Alter Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Communities

Ian Clifton (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Morphological Variation Within and Among Populations of Diamond-Backed Watersnakes (Nerodia Rhombifer) and Its Genetic Basis

Derek Filipek (Advisor: Dr. Ginny Adams) Phylogeography and Historical Demography of the Queensnake (Regina Septemvittata)

Hunter Lawrence (Advisor: Dr. Jeff Padberg) Tonotopic Organization and Thalamocortical Connections of the Auditory Cortex in the Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus Novemcinctus )

Elizabeth Morrison (Advisor: Dr. Mark Bland) Male Fixation Patterns on Female Breasts: A Study on Sexual Selection in Humans

Nicholas West (Advisor: Dr. Kari Naylor) Investigation into the Role of the Dynamin-Like Proteins in the Mitochondrial Dynamics of Dictyostelium Discoideum via Cytoskeletal Disruption

2015 Theses

Aeden Custer (Advisor: Dr. Mark Bland) Pre-service Teachers Knowledge and Acceptance of Evolution Across Teaching Disciplines

Brittany Furtado (Advisor: Dr. Ginny Adams) Fish Assemblage Composition Along a Gradient of Unconventional Natural Gas Development in North-Central Arkansas Streams

Garrett Grimes (Advisor: Dr. Reid Adams) Investigating a Marine Fish in Freshwater: Population Dynamics of Striped Mullet Mugil Cephalus in the Arkansas River, USA

Holli Hall (Advisor: Dr. Mark Bland) Acceptance of Evolution Among American College Students at Two Arkansas Regional Universities

Ryan Hiltenbrand (Advisor: Dr. Arijit Mukherjee) Formation of Nodule-Like Structures in Rice and Underlying Transcriptomic Responses to Auxin

Brad Moffit (Advisor: Dr. Jeff Padberg) The Effective Frequency Range and Auditory Sensitivity of Dasypus Novemcinctus

Chris Naus (Advisor: Dr. Reid Adams) Fish Nursery Habitat Function of the Main Channel, Tributaries, and Oxbow Lakes of a River-Floodplain System

Duy Nguyen (Advisor: Dr. Ben Rowley) Characterization of Gym Microbes

Harold Owiti (Advisor: Dr. John Choinski) Fatty Acid Desaturase Gene Expression During Gossypium Hirsutum and G. Barbadense Leaf Expansion

Luke Pearson (Advisor: Dr. Ben Cash) Seasonal Corticosterone and Gonadal Steroid Concentrations of the Ouachita Map Turtle (Graptemys Ouachitensis) in the Arkansas River

Samantha Pike (Advisor: Dr. Matt Gifford) Prey Preference and Feeding Performance in Two Populations of Diamondback Water Snakes, Nerodia Rhombifer

Steven Polaskey (Advisor: Dr. Sally Entrekin) Controls on Litter Decomposition in Arkansas Valley Streams

Johnathan Rylee (Advisor: Dr. Jeff Padberg) Comparative Neuroanatomy and Topography of Sensory Cortex in the Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus Novemcinctus)

Laken Woods (Advisor: Dr. Kari Naylor) The Role of the Cytoskeleton in Mitochondrial Dynamics