96689 research outputs found
Sort by
Officer Menaf Al Sakaf
No full textOfficer Menaf Al Sakafhttps://thekeep.eiu.edu/ahs_fall2025/1021/thumbnail.jp
Daily Eastern News: December 03, 2025
No full texthttps://thekeep.eiu.edu/den_2025_2026/1013/thumbnail.jp
Social Media & How it Impacts Regulatory Policy Movements
No full textRegulatory policy movements succeed when they can shape public meaning, attract sustained visibility, build durable coalitions/organizations and have a political opportunity. Because digital-era mobilization is fast, decentralized, and often temporary, modern movements are less likely to maintain the durable coalitions and long-term pressure needed to translate visibility into policy outcomes. Therefore, social media movements face a structural disadvantage compared to old media movements.https://thekeep.eiu.edu/polisci_capstone_posters/1066/thumbnail.jp
Thermal Thresholds of the Green Sunfish Lepomis cyanellus: Insights into Fish Vulnerability to Changes in Environmental Temperature
No full textAs global temperatures continue to rise, understanding the physiological responses of aquatic organisms becomes increasingly important. Elevated temperatures can significantly impact behavior, metabolism, and other essential survival processes. One species of particular interest is the Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus), a member of the Centrarchidae family known for its relative thermal resilience compared to other congeners across the Midwest, a region already experiencing rapid warming due to climate change. L. cyanellus are not invulnerable to thermal stress, and recent evidence suggests that both performance and thermal tolerance decline under sustained temperature increases. In this context, evaluating their response to fluctuating thermal regimes is essential. The primary goal of this study was to assess how L. cyanellus respond to daily thermal fluctuations and extreme temperatures. To investigate this, we exposed individuals to control (18°C), fluctuating (18-28°C) and avoidance (28°C) temperature regimes to assess how the thermal tolerance of L. cyanellus changes under three regimes. Thermal tolerance was assessed as the Critical Thermal Maximum (CTMax), which was determined by exposing individuals to a continuous temperature ramp at a rate of 0.3 °C per minute. This approach allowed us to identify the species\u27 upper thermal limits and evaluate performance across varying conditions. Our findings showed that thermal tolerance in L. cyanellus increased in the avoidance temperature treatment. However, fluctuating thermal regime elicited a decrease CTMax over time, compared to the avoidance temperature treatment. Specimens in the control treatment also decreased CTMax over the sampling period. As most studies assess CTMax under constant thermal regimes, our results suggest these approaches should be revised since environmental temperature is a highly dynamic variable. Daily temperature variation significantly alters thermal performance, highlighting the need for future evaluations to consider dynamic thermal regimes rather than static conditions alon
Spatiotemporal Variability in Invasive Carp Spawning Activity in Two Midwestern River Basins
No full textAcross the United States, fisheries managers and agencies continue to battle the spread of invasive bigheaded carp (Hypophthalmichthys spp.). Although previous research has identified environmental parameters such as temperature and flow to be triggers of spawning activity, many of these studies focus on larger rivers, rarely focusing on the specific thresholds or timing of when a spawning event takes place. I utilized the differing hydrology of the Illinois and Wabash Rivers and their tributaries to examine the differences in environmental parameters needed to trigger bigheaded carp reproduction. Three mainstem sites and three tributaries of both basins were sampled for ichthyoplankton (eggs and larvae) from April-August 2023-2024. Environmental data, discharge and water temperature, were collected and compared along with ichthyoplankton catch and density between years, sites, and months. A select number of eggs were also staged (aged) and had their fertilization times estimated. I found a large difference in reproduction between 2023 and 2024. Differences in water temperature and river discharge were also found between the two years. Ichthyoplankton levels in tributary sites of both basins were found to have a more sensitive response to discharge than mainstem sites. Additionally, I found discharge to have a greater influence on reproduction than temperature, with specific minimum discharge thresholds for spawning activity present in the Illinois River basin. The Wabash River lacked these results due to low levels of reproduction even at low discharges. Illinois River bigheaded carp may also prefer to spawn in evening hours based on estimated fertilization times of eggs. No diurnal patterns of egg fertilization were found in the Wabash River basin. Continued research is needed to understand how reproductive and early life history strategies change across their invaded range. Studying bigheaded carp throughout an array of hydrologic regimes can aid in adapting management strategies to mitigate damages caused by these invasive species
