Abstracts of the 2020 Meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science

Detecting selection: What can amino acid changes tell us about evolution? Dr. Yampolsky earned a BS in Biology from Moscow State University and a PhD in Genetics from the Russian Academy of Sciences. He held postdoctoral appointments at Northern Illinois University, Cornell University, University of Georgia, and University of Maryland/NIST. He has been a faculty member at Eastern Tennessee State University since 2001. His major research interest is in the area of the evolution of gene expression in response to changes in the environment (temperature, nutrients, xenobiotics) or genetic background (chromosomal aberrations, gene duplications). Differential gene expression is the molecular basis of phenotypic plasticity. Dr. Yampolsky investigates the role of adaptation and environmental constraints in the shaping of differential gene expression. Does plastic gene expression impede adaptive evolution or provide a new target for selection? If plasticity of gene expression is lost in a constant environment, does it occur by neutral processes or by selection operating through across-environmental trade-offs? He attempts to answer these and other questions using microarray and RNAseq technology as well as bioinformatics. His study organisms include Drosophila, Daphnia, and Lake Baikal (Siberia) endemic crustaceans.

First Records of Freshwater Sponges (Porifera: Spongillidae) for Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A survey of four selected streams in the Tennessee portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was conducted to document the presence of freshwater sponges. Streams were surveyed by wading and observing rock and log substrates for sponges. Sponges were viewed with a 10X magnifier for gemmules. If gemmules were present a portion of the sponge containing gemmules was collected. Scanning electron microscopy of gemmules and spicules was used for taxonomic identification. Two species, Radiospongilla crateriformis and Trochospongilla horrida, were discovered. Both were found in the Abrams Creek embayment of Chilhowee Lake. These findings represent the first records of freshwater sponges within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Vascular Flora of Haynes Bottoms Wildlife Management Area, Montgomery County, Tennessee

Haynes Bottom Wildlife Management Area is a 393-ha state-owned property in Montgomery County, Tennessee. Formerly agricultural, the property was purchased from private ownership in 1996 and includes Cumberland River bottomlands (ca. 180 ha) and level to rolling-sloping uplands (ca. 213 ha). It is managed by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency for wildlife enhancement and public usage. On-going management includes development of wetlands and moist-soil areas primarily for waterfowl in the bottomlands and plantings for agricultural crops and wildlife in the uplands. Based on twenty years of floristic studies, the known vascular flora consists of 605 species, with 153 of these non-natives; four species are elements of conservation concern. A description of the area, analyses of the flora, and an annotated list, are presented.