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Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Biomedical Sciences
Date of Award
8-2018
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Karl Joplin, Darrell Moore
Committee Members
Thomas Jones, Michelle Duffourc
Abstract
We have examined potential influences of gender, age, and nutrition on the expression of circadian locomotor activity rhythms in the flesh fly Sarcophaga crassipalpis. We found no significant differences in endogenous circadian period under constant dark conditions resulting from gender, nutrition, or age. Male and female flesh flies were predominantly diurnal under light-dark cycles, but their entrainment patterns differed. Females displayed higher activity levels and increasing activity with age, unlike males. Moreover, females exhibited an extraordinary, but transient, departure from diurnality which we characterize as “extended dark activity” (EDA), a continuous bout of locomotor activity extending three hours, or longer, into the dark phase at twice the median of the individual’s overall locomotor activity. EDA occurred as an age-dependent response to liver consumption. Our results suggest a linkage between physiological events associated with egg provisioning and locomotor activity as well as multiple influences on the expression of circadian clock-regulated behavior.
Document Type
Thesis - restricted
Recommended Citation
Prohaska, Fritz, "Effects of Gender, Age, and Nutrition on Circadian Locomotor Activity Rhythms in the Flesh Fly Sarcophaga crassipalpis" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3478. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3478
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.