Graduation Date
Spring 2026
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Science degree with a major in Biology
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Catalina Cuellar-Gempeler
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Paul Bourdeau
Second Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Dr. Jianmin Zhong
Third Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Fourth Committee Member Name
Dr. Christopher Dugaw
Fourth Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Biodiversity–ecosystem functioning, Microbial ecology, Stress gradient hypothesis, Darlingtonia californica, Microbiome, Modeling, Pitcher plants, Exyra moths, Lotka-Volterra, Host-antagonist interactions
Subject Categories
Biology
Abstract
This work looks at two different sites with differing abiotic factors in measures of altitude, temperature and precipitation. The site with higher altitude, larger temperature range, and lower precipitation, located in Plumas National Forest (Quincy, CA), had a flat BEF trend that suggests functional redundancy The site with lower altitude, more moderate temperatures, and higher precipitation located in Six Rivers National Forest (Gasquet, CA), also had a flat BEF trend. These abiotic factors could correlate to the significantly different bacterial compositions between sites. The second portion of this work is modeling the host antagonist relationship between Eyxra moths and their obligate host Sarracencia pitcher plants. I modeled this relationship between moths, leaves, and available nitrogen in their inquiline communities using Lotka-Volterra models. Through non-dimensionalization and by graphing all three steady-state functions as the parameters increase, I found that the growth rate of moths at carrying capacity is the most influential parameter. These results are consistent with the literature that Exyra moths have an impact on the system. My thesis contributes to our understanding of links between community dynamics and function, in the context of pitcher plant associated microbial communities. In the first portion, I found evidence of the effects of abiotic factors on assembly processes, with no direct significant impact on function. In the second portion, I found that the antagonist is driving changes to all levels of this trophic interaction. Broadly, this work advances our ability to consider the ecological complexity that drives community level responses to biotic and abiotic factors, with emphasis on the functional consequences that can impact natural ecosystems.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Jackson, Amelia, "Bacterial community function in pitcher plant leaves as an experimental and mathematical model of functional dynamics" (2026). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2581.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2581