ScholarWorks

ScholarWorks is an open access repository for the capture of the intellectual work of Montana State University (MSU) in support of its teaching, research and service missions. MSU ScholarWorks is a central point of discovery for accessing, collecting, sharing, preserving, and distributing knowledge to the Montana State University community and the world.

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Scholarship & Research

Recent Submissions

The Design of a PNA Probe to Improve Legionella pneumophila Monitoring
(Scilight Press Pty Ltd, 2025-12)
Barbosa, Ana
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Nácher-Vázquez, Montserrat
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Goeres, Darla M.
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Almeida, Carina
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Azevedo, Nuno F.
Legionella is a significant public health threat in engineered water systems, requiring rapid and accurate environmental monitoring to prevent outbreaks. Traditional detection methods, such as culture-based assays and PCR, are limited by long processing times and the potential for false negatives due to viable but non-culturable (VBNC) cells. This study addresses these limitations by developing a novel Peptide Nucleic Acid-Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (PNA-FISH) method for the specific and sensitive detection of Legionella pneumophila. In silico analysis predicted high theoretical specificity (100.0%) and sensitivity (99.8%), results that were confirmed by experimental validation against 17 L. pneumophila strains and 37 non-target strains (including Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and other Legionella species), demonstrating strong fluorescence signals with no cross-reactivity. Furthermore, the method was successfully applied to artificially contaminated tap water, achieving a limit of detection of 103 CFU mL−1 directly on the filter membrane. This work highlights the potential of PNA-based probes to improve bacterial monitoring, offering fast, reliable, and field-adaptable detection of L. pneumophila. The findings support the integration of this probe into routine water system monitoring workflows, facilitating timely assessment of contamination and outbreak prevention.
Community-engaged dissemination and implementation of an evidence-based health promotion intervention for Native American families: “Delivery of Turtle Island Tales to promote family wellness” protocol
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-11)
Tomayko, Emily J.
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Adams, Alexandra
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Warne, Teresa
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Merle, James L.
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Estabrooks, Paul A.
Background. Native American communities possess a wide range of assets that can contribute to reducing persistent inequities in food insecurity, obesity, cancer, chronic disease, and other related outcomes. Community engaged dissemination and implementation (CEDI) strategies that emphasize available, relevant, and generalizable evidence as well as community strengths and assets are well aligned to improve health outcomes with these communities. Methods. “Delivery of Turtle Island Tales to Promote Family Wellness” applies a culturally grounded, evidence-based intervention for obesity prevention through partnership with local organizations (e.g., Cooperative Extension/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education [SNAP-Ed]) to understand and enhance community capacity for sustained health promotion. A descriptive case study design applies bundled CEDI strategies (e.g., participatory Project Steering Committee; site-specific Community Implementation Teams) guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance Framework to examine implementation across multiple communities. CEDI strategies will be tracked longitudinally, by community, to document iterative identification of locally specific and project general CEDI strategies as they relate to program reach, adoption, adaptation, implementation, and maintenance using mixed methods approaches (e.g., validated surveys, focus groups, interviews). An economic assessment of Turtle Island Tales also will be conducted. Discussion. This study applies innovative CEDI science to the equitable implementation of Turtle Island Tales, one of the only family-centered, home-based, evidence-based obesity prevention intervention developed for and with Native American communities. Key innovations include a mailed intervention model and culturally specific strategies that honor local community assets to support the program’s relevance, scalability, and long-term sustainability.
Mesoscale Linear Elastic Modeling and Homogenization of Marine Energy Composites
(MDPI AG, 2025-10)
Creveling, Peter
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Anderson, Evan
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Blank, Olivia
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Miller, David A.
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Hernandez-Sanchez, Bernadette A.
The design of fiber-reinforced composite (FRC)-based components for marine energy applications necessitates a fundamental understanding of material properties and the resulting geometry to predict long-term performance. In this work, we present a modeling workflow to predict linear elastic and diffusive bulk properties at the mesoscale for an idealized geometry based on knowledge of fiber and resin properties. A parametric study was performed to identify the key model input parameters that influence bulk properties. Furthermore, we demonstrate how bulk properties can be leveraged in high-fidelity image-based simulations, where imperfections in tow geometry and voids captured during X-ray computed tomography imaging are explicitly represented within the simulation. Bulk properties of interest include moduli, Poisson’s ratios, hygroscopic swelling, diffusivity, and moisture uptake, which are key parameters for characterizing FRC performance within marine environments. Modeling predictions agreed well with experimental data, except for estimating swelling coefficients, likely due to crack accumulation as a function of moisture uptake. The mesoscale modeling workflow ultimately highlights a versatile framework for understanding the influence of material and geometric properties, which can be leveraged to rapidly assess new FRC-based components.
A large tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of North America
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2026-03)
Longrich, Nicholas R.
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Dalman, Sebastian
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Lucas, Spencer G.
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Fiorillo, Anthony R.
The Tyrannosauridae emerged as the dominant large predators in Laurasia during the Late Cretaceous. Their evolution in North America culminated with the replacement of Albertosaurinae, Daspletosaurinae, and Teratophonei, with masses of 2-3 tonnes, by the giant Tyrannosaurus in the late Maastrichtian, with a mass approaching or exceeding 10 tonnes. The origin of Tyrannosaurus remains enigmatic, but fossils suggest an origin in the Campanian—Maastrichtian of southern Laramidia. Here we describe an unusually large and robust tyrannosaurid tibia from the late Campanian aged Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Formation, New Mexico, ~ 74 Ma. The tibia measures 960 mm in length and 128 mm in diameter, ~84% and 78% the dimensions of the largest known Tyrannosaurus, suggesting a mass approaching 5 tonnes, larger than any contemporary tyrannosaur. The Hunter Wash tyrannosaur could potentially represent (i) an unusually large and robust Bistahieversor, (ii) a previously unknown lineage of giant tyrannosaur, or (iii) an early representative of Tyrannosaurini. The tibia’s large size, robust proportions, and shape of the distal shaft are most consistent with referral to Tyrannosaurini. The Hunter Wash tyrannosaur emphasizes the marked endemicity of Laramidian dinosaurs; while smaller Albertosaurinae and Daspletosaurini inhabited the north, giant tyrannosaurins occurred in the south.
Global insular leaf size shifts follow the island rule, independently of insect herbivory and macroclimate
(Wiley, 2026-02)
Moreira, Xoaquín
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Abdala‐Roberts, Luis
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Amorim, Isabel
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Baider, Cláudia
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Burns, Kevin C.
The island rule, originally formulated for animals, predicts that small-bodied mainland species evolve larger body sizes on islands (gigantism), but that this effect weakens with increasing mainland body size, ultimately reversing and leading to dwarfism for the largest species. This dynamic is expected to produce a positive, saturating relationship between island and mainland body size, with insular size increases at small sizes and reductions at large sizes. Despite extensive support in animals, this prediction has rarely been tested in plants. Consequently, it remains unclear whether the island rule applies to plants, whether it operates consistently across evolutionary scales, and how biotic and abiotic drivers jointly shape insular size shifts. We tested the island rule in plants by examining leaf size variation—an organ-level analogue of body size—across 48 island species from six oceanic systems and their mainland counterparts. We conducted both conspecific comparisons (same species on islands and the mainland; n = 19 pairs) and congeneric comparisons (island endemics paired with closely related mainland species; n = 29 pairs) to assess patterns across evolutionary scales. We also measured insect herbivory and recorded climatic variables to explore ecological correlates of island–mainland variation in leaf size. Although mean leaf size did not differ significantly between island and mainland populations for either conspecific or congeneric comparisons, we detected a non-linear, positive saturating relationship between mainland and island leaf sizes, consistent with an island rule-like pattern. Small-leaved mainland species tended to evolve larger leaves on islands, whereas this effect diminished for larger leaved species, a pattern observed in both conspecific and congeneric comparisons. Insect herbivory and climate did not explain these relationships. Synthesis: These findings demonstrate that plants follow the island rule for leaf size and suggest that mainland-to-island shifts at opposite ends of the mainland leaf size spectrum offset one another, possibly explaining no overall difference in leaf size between island and mainland populations.