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The Chanticleer, 2025-04-10
Full text linkThe editorially independent student produced weekly newspaper of Coastal Carolina University.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/chanticleer/1730/thumbnail.jp
Life history inhibits deleterious effects of dams on genetic health and structure of a headwater stream fish
Full text linkHabitat loss, fragmentation, and land use changes in river networks are common globally. The resulting fragmentation of landscapes and riverscapes threatens biodiversity and can affect dispersal and subsequently, gene flow and genetic health of species. Headwater streams are an integral part of river networks and contribute to biodiversity by providing habitat for temporary and permanent residents, yet they are easily altered and fragmented. The sandhills chub (Semotilus lumbee) is an endemic headwater leuciscid that lives in highly fragmented streams of the sandhills ecoregion in North and South Carolina, USA. New knowledge on the population genetics of the sandhills chub is available, and anthropogenic dams that may limit gene flow, reduce genetic diversity, and threaten their long-term species viability are pervasive throughout their geographic distribution. Therefore, I used a newly-generated genetic dataset utilizing 23 microsatellite loci to investigate the relationships between dam distributions and sandhills chub genetic differentiation, genetic diversity, and inbreeding rates. Genetic samples were collected from 887 sandhills chubs across 30 sites, spanning the geographic distribution of the species. I used spatial analyses to quantify distances between sites, the number of dams between sites, upstream drainage areas (km2), cumulative free-flowing stream length connected to a site (km), and the number of dams upstream and downstream of sites. Bayesian linear models were used to investigate the relationship between pairwise FST, distance between sites, and the number of dams between sites. Additionally, I used Bayesian linear mixed models to investigate relationships between metrics of genetic health (i.e., HE, NA, G-W, and FIS), with upstream drainage area, length of free-flowing stream connected to a site, and the number of dams upstream and downstream from a site. Pairwise FST values ranged from 0.014 to 0.425 and unrelated to the number of dams between sites. Instead, genetic differentiation was related to whether sites were within the same sub-watershed. Genetic diversity was moderate at most sites (mean HE = 0.446), and unrelated to dams or site attributes. There was evidence of a distribution-wide bottleneck observed across all sites which likely reflects geological events (stream capture/isolation) rather than anthropogenic fragmentation of streams over the last 150 years. This study provides a framework for assessing relationships between genetic differentiation, genetic diversity, and fragmentation across riverscapes. Although fragmentation can have deleterious genetic effects on populations through reduction of effective population sizes, gene flow, and genetic variation, barriers may be irrelevant to the ecology of species that evolved in isolated habitats
First record of Corella japonica in California
Full text linkMany ascidian (sea squirt) species are common members of fouling communities, particularly on floating substrates such as docks and pilings and through maritime transport, have been introduced worldwide. For the past 30 years, marinas in Southern California have been regularly monitored for introduced species due to their proximity to the international shipping terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors. Here, we report on the first record in the eastern Pacific of an ascidian in the family Corellidae (O. Phlebobranchia), Corella japonica, found at the Newmarks Yacht Centre in Los Angeles Harbor. This study further highlights the importance of continuously monitoring harbors and marinas to detect the early arrival of new non-native species.
This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Transformative Agreement Program. The article was first published in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002531542500036
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Perceptions of Fraud Across Voting Methods in the 2020 Election
Full text linkThe hallmark of the 2020 election was the heightened anxiety over voter fraud as a result of a dramatic increase in vote-by-mail. De- spite scant evidence of actual voter fraud, state legislatures have responded to these suspicions by enacting new laws which target access to and ease of voting-by-mail. This study assesses the public’s perceptions of the prevalence of fraudulent election activity across voting methods as well as the durability of these attitudes over time. Public opinion data used for this analysis were collected from nationally representative samples (n=1,000) in late 2020 and 2021 ([Redacted] Cooperative Election Study Team Content). With a focus on identifying differences across voting methods, respondents in both survey years were given parallel survey items utilizing four- point scales of the prevalence of fraudulent election activities when voting-by-mail and in-person. Specifically, this study explores differences in perceptions of the frequency of the following scenarios: people voting more than once, people stealing or tampering with ballots, people pretending to be someone else when going to vote, non-citizen voting, and officials changing the reported vote count. Ultimately, this study finds evidence for clear differences in the attitudes of Biden and Trump voters regarding the prevalence of election fraud. As a general trend, voters in both parties were more suspicious when ballots are cast through the mail. Additionally, beliefs about fraud present in 2020 persisted well into 2021
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: THE DECLINING ELECTORAL IMPORTANCE OF CONSTITUENCY INTACTNESS ON U.S. HOUSE INCUMBENTS’ POST-REDISTRICTING MARGINS, 1992-2022
No full textRedistricting studies of pre-2022 elections have found that lesser numbers of retained constituents placed in a Congress member’s new district impair reelection margin, insomuch as new constituents are largely unaware of the past “personal vote” activities (i.e., casework, pork barreling, and trips back home) undertaken by the member. The declining efficacy of the personal vote over time, however, suggests that the new constituent penalty likewise should have weakened. Analysis of the four most recent redistricting cycles confirms this expectation; in fact, constituency retention is not even statistically significant in 2022. Part of the explanation, however, can be attributed to “district shopping.” Members, presumably sensitive to the waning relevance of retained constituents, have shown increased willingness to abandon the new district with the most old constituents and to run in a lower retention, but more partisan-friendly, district. Their subsequent strong electoral showing thus weakens even further the explanatory importance of retention in 2022
“Lyfting” the Possibilities and Opportunities for Sustainable and Safe Transportation to Access Medical Care
Full text linkThe Relationship between the Light and Dark Triads of Personality, COVID-19 threat, and COVID-19 Vaccine status in College Students
Full text linkThe rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was due, or at least in part, to the resistance to health guidelines, minimal to no safety measures implemented by nearly half the U.S. citizens, and, to a lesser extent, the initial lack of understanding into the pathogenic mode of transmission. The present study examined links between the Dark (i.e.., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) and Light (i.e.., compassion, empathy, altruism) Triad of personality traits, the perceived threat level of COVID-19, and COVID-19 vaccine uptake in an undergraduate college sample (N = 147). The study found no statistically significant differences in the overall Light or Dark Triad scores between students receiving and those not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccinated students reported a higher perceived threat level than their non-vaccinated colleagues. Implications and limitations of the study are reported. Relationships between personality, vaccine practices, and perceived health threats offer important insights. These findings may be useful in developing strategies that effectively tackle the contradictions between the psychological and the sociocultural determinants of health behavior.
This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in the Journal of Behavioral Health and Psychology: 10.33425/2832-4579/2510
Everything is Design: The Hidden Ethics of Our Objects and Public Spaces
No full textEthics – to put it concisely – is ‘mindful well-being’. It is a set of standards that guides how we treat ourselves, one another, and the environment. When we design things for public use, we also communicate an ethical perspective. When we use things designed for us, we adopt their ethics.
This book synthesizes several different disciplines as they relate to design, ethics, and the built environment. Our objects, according to philosophers like Ihde, Verbeek, and Latour, mediate our experiences with the world around us. Through their designs (and, by extension, our perceived affordances), we largely comply with what our objects and spaces want us to do. At the micro-level, the phones in our pockets command our attentive processes in order to feed an attention economy. At the macro level, urban planning and infrastructure can both promote inclusivity and foment violence. We are deeply intertwined with the objects and spaces that have been designed for us. Baked into every object, process, system, and environment are the remnants of the designer’s morals, ethics, values, and biases.
Importantly, this book seeks to cultivate mindfulness of the reader’s interactions with their surrounding world, providing them with a line of inquiry that questions areas of unethical design in their built environment and offers useful critiques and new solutions to these ethical dilemmas. We often have the power to reject those things that are irresponsibly designed and unethical in nature, and it is through this agency as users that we can demand better from designers, developers, and companies. It is imperative to understand our mediated relationships with the built environment that surrounds us and the objects within it; this can help explain our behaviors and empower us to make ethical decisions that serve future generations.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/faculty-books/1113/thumbnail.jp
Coastal Transition Zone Development Effects on Salt Marsh Ecology
No full textThe coastal transition zone (CTZ) is a regional gradient linking terrestrial and marine systems, comprising of the terrestrial upland, the marsh-upland ecotone, and estuarine salt marshes. Along all US coastlines, including the South Carolina (SC) coast from Little River to Georgetown, increases in anthropogenic development of terrestrial uplands have altered the historically established vegetation, and various physical, chemical, biological, and geological gradients. Despite the CTZ\u27s ecological importance, the trickle-down effects of terrestrial upland development on associated high marsh habitats remain understudied. Data were collected from developed (DEV) and undeveloped (UND) shorelines across three SC estuarine inlets. Multilevel modeling (MLM) was used to analyze treatment-specific differences and relationships between parameters (temperature, sediment characteristics, vegetation, gastropods, and nekton) across two contrasting seasons (summer and winter).
Contrary to initial thoughts, significant soil temperature differences at the upland did not cascade down the CTZ gradient to the marsh, and only maximum air temperatures were significantly different at the upland. Similarly, differences in select physical and biological gradients were significant at the upland and were not significant in other CTZ regions. Differences are likely attributed to increased freshwater and nutrient runoff at DEV shorelines due to upland vegetation absence and increased impervious surfaces. Additional differences in lawn maintenance frequency between seasons are potential contributors of some observed seasonal differences. Nekton dynamics between treatments could be attributed to seasonal predator-prey dynamics, with increased availability of predators, prey, and biological activity in summer. The power of the results obtained from the MLMs are likely to be increased with larger sample sizes for nested groupings, or alternatively, a stronger model to account for the study’s complexities to detect differences along the CTZ gradient between treatments. Significant differences were limited to a few parameters at the upland region of the CTZ