Conservation is not just about wildlife, it is about people and communities. The success of any wildlife conservation program relatively parallels the involvement and support from local communities, thus working alongside communities and partner organizations is imperative to empower people with the knowledge of co-existence and sustainability to ensure long-term conservation efforts.
As human-altered landscapes now dominate our earth, greater emphasis has been placed on understanding which species decline, persist, or increase in these altered or newly created habitats, and the consequences of changing biological diversity for ecosystem and Earth-system functioning. This body of work has grown exponentially since its emergence just two decades ago, and a great amount of effort has been placed on developing theory and empirical methods to describe the nature of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) and the mechanisms (e.
9:00-9:25 Laura Yoon - Effects of Breast Milk-Derived MicroRNA on Infant Immune System Development
9:25-9:50 Ryan Banard - The Effects of Specific Exercise Intensity on Neuron Degeneration in ALS Individuals
9:50-10:15 Keanu Yamaoka - Gut Microflora Maintenance: The Hidden Key to Immunity Against Type 2 Diabetes
10:15-10:40 Amanda Rissberger - The Role of Oxidative Stress, Endothelial Dysfunction and Inflammation in Mediating Ischemic Stroke Risk in Migraineurs with Aura
10:40-10:55 BREAK
The human body is a complex ecosystem supporting symbiotic relationships with thousands of microbial species. By some estimates, human commensal microbial cells outnumber human cells by a factor of ten and harbor three hundred times as many protein coding genes. Such symbiotic microorganisms are integral to the health and metabolism of not only humans, but also animals, insects, and plants.
Exposure to ionizing radiation can imbalance the antioxidant system, inducing oxidative stress. The oxidative status of an organism is increasingly regarded as the currency underlying life history trade-offs, such as the one between survival and reproduction. Landscape-level radioactive contamination can thus function as a natural laboratory where to investigate the nexus between life-history and physiology.