Tag: General Science

Effects of Rangeland Compost Amendments on Nematode Abundance

Presenter: Maya Treder – General Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Ashley Shaw, Lauren Hallett

Session: (In-Person) Oral Panel—Fuel, Fire, Grass and Compost, Poster Presentation

California rangelands are often over-grazed, nutrient-depleted, and subject to variable rainfall. Compost amendments are gaining popularity as a management tool due to their potential for soil carbon sequestration. Despite positive effects on plant growth, little is known about how soil communities respond to these amendments, especially across variable precipitation conditions. Nematodes are excellent indicators of soil community responses as they span every trophic level and are sensitive to changing environments. Here, we examined how amendment treatments (compost, fertilizer, none) affect nematode communities across variable precipitation conditions (drought, irrigation, wet). We hypothesized: 1) amendments increase nematode abundance, where compost has a greater positive effect than fertilizer; 2) nematodes respond positively to elevated soil moisture and negatively to drought; 3) effects of amendment and precipitation are interactive, where compost mitigates drought’s effects on nematodes. As expected, compost increased nematode abundance relative to other amendment treatments. However, overall, nematodes were most abundant under ambient precipitation, contrary to expectations. This was due to the precipitation-amendment interaction. While compost and fertilizer had similar positive effects on nematodes under ambient and irrigation, under drought, fertilizer had a negative while compost had a positive effect on nematode abundance compared to the no amendment treatment.

Observations of Mobile Health Clinics in Honduras: A Case Study on El Centro De Salud Integral Zoé

Presenter(s): Mitchell Yep—International Studies, General Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Lesley Weaver, Melissa Graboyes

Session 1: Time for Your Check-Up—Decolonizing Global Health

Visual impairment and blindness are debilitating conditions with increasing rates around the globe . The World Health Organization estimates at least 2 .2 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness, of whom at least 1 billion are preventable or remain unaddressed (Bourne et al ., 2017; World Health Organization, 2019) . El Centro de Salud Integral Zoé uses an innovative Mobile Health Clinic model to deliver cataract screenings and visual acuity exams to populations marginalized from the Honduran health care system . Zoé ́s outreach model actively removes systemic barriers that prevent individuals from seeking care such as cost, distance, logistics, and lack of knowledge . The colonial legacy and proposed neoliberal development policies have resulted in the underdevelopment of health infrastructure and widespread exclusion from these services . The expansion of accessible health care is a pressing national issue as the State›s Ministry of Health estimates 18% of the population (over 1 .5 million Hondurans) do not have access to health services (Secretary of Health, 2015) . Implementing the Right to Health under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and achieving the 2015 United Nations Millennium Development Goals requires the foundation of accessible health care . Mobile Health Clinics present an alternative development strategy to ease disparities of access to health care by bringing medical services to communities that would not receive them .

Behavior of C. elegans and C. inopinatus

Presenter(s): Saad Mirza—General Science

Co-Presenter(s): Elena Ortega

Faculty Mentor(s): Nadia Singh

Session: Prerecorded Poster Presentation

Behavioral change frequently accompanies ecological divergence . This study observed C . elegans and C . inopinatus behavior . It is already common knowledge that C . elegans are found in rotting plants all over the world whereas the C . inopinata are only found in Japan . The basis of this experiment was to observe what kind of bacteria each nematode prefers . This was done by taking the two different nematodes, placing them in the middle of a petri dish separately . Two different types of bacteria would be placed on the left and right side which then allowed for observation of the behavior . Raw data was collected by counting the amount of nematodes on both left and right sides . Results showed that although bacteria was preferred over no bacteria, the two nematode species did not show any differences in their preferences even though C . elegans N2 is lab adapted and C . inopinata is not . This work sets the stage for future studies aimed at understanding the genetic basis of interspecific interactions and behavioral divergence .

Health disparities faced by female caregivers when caring for older adults and children in middle-income countries

Presenter(s): Janae Houston—General Science

Faculty Mentor(s): Josh Snodgrass

Session: Prerecorded Poster Presentation

Within the middle-income countries the older adult demographic increasing . Addressing the health of this population is a public health priority, given that older adults in middle income nations represent a significant portion of the world’s population . There is a large burden on caregivers in middle-income countries, so there needs to be further exploration of the relationship between caregiving and poor health . We evaluated female caregivers between the age of 18 and 114 (N = 15,975) responsible for

children or older adults in Ghana, South Africa, Mexico, Russia, and India . We tested the following hypotheses: 1) Caregiving will be associated with overall poorer health in all five countries; 2) difficulties associated with caregiving will be affiliated with overall worse self-reported health due
to less sustainable income, living in rural areas, and not being married . We found that between 4 .0 and 14 .3 percent of the people in each country are caregivers . . In most countries caregiving was associated with poor health, except Mexico (where caregiving was not associated with health) and Russia (where caregiving was positively associated with health; t’s = -1 .74 to 1 .90, p’s = .03 to .26) . Reported difficulties associated with caregiving were associated with poor health in caregivers in Ghana, India, and Russia (Î2’s = .09 to .27, p’s = < .001 to .45) . It was shown that having less wealth was a significant factor associated with poor health in caregivers across all nations except Ghana (Î2’s = -0 .26 to -0 .06, p’s = .01 to .03) . Understanding the relationship between caregiver difficulties and health across nations can improve the outcomes for this population globally .