Tricia L Meredith

FAU Lab Schools

Early college and dual enrollment initiatives provide students opportunities for college credit courses and increased academic engagement. The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to examine the case of 79 dual-enrolled students in a research methodology course using online surveys and focus groups. Students perceived increased knowledg...

Morphological data on craniofacial and axial bifurcation in sea turtles is not well documented in the literature. Here, we use micro‐computed tomography (μ‐CT) imaging to describe the body, skull, and vertebral morphology in axially‐bifurcated cheloniid sea turtle embryos and hatchlings (Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta) from south Florida beache...

Huanglongbing (HLB, also commonly known as citrus greening disease) is caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) in the US. It is a serious plant disease causing tremendous economic damages and posing an existential threat to the citrus industry worldwide. CLas proliferates inside the phloem, clogs the transportation system,...

In fishes, olfactory cues evoke behavioral responses that are crucial to survival; however, the receptors, olfactory sensory neurons, are directly exposed to the environment and are susceptible to damage from aquatic contaminants. In 2010, 4.9 million barrels of crude oil was released into the northern Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon disa...

Leptin, a peptide hormone released by adipose tissue, acts on the hypothalamus to control cravings and appetite. Leptin also acts to decrease taste responses to sweet substances, though there is little detailed information regarding where leptin acts in the taste transduction cascade. The present study examined the effects of leptin on sweet-evoked...

The olfactory bulbs (OBs) are bilaterally paired structures in the vertebrate forebrain that receive and process odor information from the olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) in the periphery. Virtually all vertebrate OBs are arranged chemotopically, with different regions of the OB processing different types of odorants. However, there is some evide...

Odor detection in vertebrates occurs when odorants enter the nose and bind to molecular olfactory receptors on the cilia or microvilli of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). Several vertebrate groups possess multiple, morphologically distinct types of ORNs. In teleost fishes, these different ORN types detect specific classes of biologically relevant...

Elasmobranch fishes are thought to possess greater olfactory sensitivities than teleost fishes due in part to the large amount of epithelial surface area that comprises their olfactory organs; however, direct evidence correlating the size of the olfactory organ to olfactory sensitivity is lacking. This study examined the olfactory morphology and ph...

We describe a commensal relationship between Double-crested Cormorant, (Phalacrocorax auritus) and a southern stingray (Dasyatis americana). Three cormorants were observed closely following a large southern stingray in a shallow turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) bed near Long Key, Florida and feeding upon a small fish disturbed by the stingray's...

The Caribbean cirratulid polychaete, Cirriformia punctata (Grube, 1856), is bright orange and burrows just below the surface of fine carbonate sand with only its filamentous tentacles and gills exposed to potential predators. In addition to its conspicuous coloration, C. punctata lacks obvious structural and morphological defenses. We hypothesized...