Brock University Digital Repository

Brock University's Digital Repository is an online archive showcasing and preserving the Brock community's scholarly output as well as items from the Library's Archives & Special Collections. Researchers can disseminate their work by depositing it in this Open Access repository, which provides free, immediate access to users while also allowing Brock scholars to track downloads and views of their scholarship. The Digital Repository is also the home of the Brock University E-Thesis Portal.

For more information, see the repository's policies and procedures.

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 9

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Nematodes as indicators of sustainable soil health management practices in corn-soybean production
(Brock University, 2026-01-15) Akanwari, Jerry; Sultana, Tahera; Liang, Ping; Department of Biological Sciences
Soil nematodes are multicellular organisms causing significant economic and ecological impacts, and their community composition is widely used as a bioindicator of soil health. Current methodologies for nematode assessment require further refinement and advancement. This thesis addressed knowledge gaps by combining enhanced DNA metabarcoding tools with the standard morphological analyses to evaluate soil nematode communities under different crop management practices. The first study evaluated the use of soil DNA for profiling nematode communities. Compared to the commonly used NF1/18Sr2b primer, degenerate primers (NemF/18Sr2b and NemFopt/18Sr2bRopt) combined with an improved soil DNA extraction protocol greatly increased nematode detection and taxonomic resolution. The enhanced primer specificity enabled the recovery of nematode assemblages from soil DNA, and was comparable to those from nematode DNA. The direct nematode DNA extraction yielded consistent community profiles regardless of the primer used. This demonstrates that DNA source and primer choice can bias biodiversity estimates. These findings suggest that the widely used NF1/18Sr2b primer may have contributed to the commonly held perception that soil DNA extraction is not a reliable method for studying nematode communities. The second study compared morphological identification with DNA metabarcoding for nematode community analysis. Metabarcoding revealed a greater diversity of beneficial free-living bacterivores, detecting many rare taxa that were overlooked by conventional microscopy. In contrast, the morphological approach provided accurate identification and quantification of herbivore populations, while metabarcoding overrepresented bacterivorous nematodes. Both methods were able to identify key indicator taxa, but also missed others. The inherent differences between molecular and morphological methods, however, prevented alignment of results. The third study examined how winter cover crops (WCCs) in a corn–soybean rotation influence nematode communities and soil health indicators. The study observed that long-term use of WCCs significantly increased total nematode abundance and diversity, while reducing the prevalence of herbivorous nematodes, relative to fallow. Mixed-species WCCs promoted nematode communities that were more balanced and biologically enriched than those of a single species. The fourth study demonstrated that conservation tillage practices (occasional tillage within no-tillage and minimum tillage) increased beneficial free-living nematodes and soil organic matter. In contrast, conventional tillage resulted in higher populations of herbivores such as Pratylenchus sp. in deeper soil layers. Over time, occasional tillage within no-tillage systems developed higher soil food web indices and shifted toward communities driven by fungi and herbivorous nematodes
Access status: Open Access ,
Adams, Butler, and Hill Family Fonds, 1843-2003 [non-inclusive]
(2026-01-14) Williams, Edie
The textual records and keepsakes of the Adams, Butler, Hill and Johnson families in the Oakville area. The bulk of the material contains photographs, scrapbooks and account books detailing the lives of culturally significant Black families formerly from Maryland.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Press, Volume 40, Issue 29, April 5, 2005
(2005-04-05) Dart, Chris (Editor); Matheusik, Danielle (Internal News Editor); Thomas, Vivian (External News Editor); Kaminski, Courtney (News Assistant); Bronsteter, Aaron (Marginalia Editor); Lowry, Travis (Focus Editor); Klement, Jessica (Culture Editor); Depalma, Kristen (Culture Assistant); Terpstra, Rob (Sports Editor); McLeod, Sarah (Sports Assistant); Maher, Beth (Illustrator); Lambert, Christine (Layout Editor); Murray, Sarah (Layout Assistant); Dynes, LIam (Chief Photographer); Friesen, Katie (Assistant Photographer); Evenden, Steve (Managing Editor); Woodward, Paula (Advertising Director); Bradley, Brian (Senior Staff Writer); Habbourn, Richard (Staff Writer); Hillier, Kayla (Staff Writer); Siklosi, Kate (Staff Writer)
The Press, Volume 40, Issue 29 includes: In a shake-up turn of events, Bryan Hicks is voted in as BUSU President over Nick Brown; The Brock Board of Trustees approves hikes to residence and meal plan fees, with a significant adjustment made to Quarry View contracts; The Brock food task committee finds that students, faculty, and staff want a change to the food services on campus; Merilyn Simonds speaks at the final Harpweaver Reading of the year.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Press, Volume 40, Issue 27, March 30, 2005
(2005-03-30) Dart, Chris (Editor); Matheusik, Danielle, (Internal News Editor); Thomas, Vivian (External News Editor); Kaminski, Courtney (News Assistant); Singha, Shaan (Acting Marginalia Editor); Lowry, Travis (Focus Editor); Klement, Jessica (Culture Editor); Depalma, Kristen (Culture Assistant); Terpstra, Rob (Sports Editor); McLeod, Sarah (Sports Assistant); Maher, Beth (Illustrator); Lambert, Christine (Layout Editor); Murray, Sarah (Layout Assistant); Dynes, Liam (Chief Photographer); Friesen, Katie (Assistant Photographer); Evenden, Steve (Managing Editor); Woodward, Paula (Advertising Director); Bradley, Brian (Senior Staff Writer); Hebbourn, Richard (Staff Writer); Hillier, Kayla (Staff Writer); Siklosi, Kate (Staff Writer)
The Press, Volume 40, Issue 27 includes: Polling for the BUSU election begins, the first for BUSAC but the second for BUSU President after President-elect Nick Brown resigned in light of controversy regarding governance of his actions; The Brock University Senate withdraws a motion to return to a 12-week semester.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Press, Volume 40, Issue 26, March 22, 2005
(2005-03-22) Dart, Chris (Editor); Matheusik, Danielle (Internal News Editor); Thomas, Vivian (External News Editor); Kaminski, Courtney (News Assistant); Bronsteter, Aaron (Marginalia Editor); Lowry, Travis (Focus Editor); Klement, Jessica (Culture Editor); Depalma, Kristen (Culture Assistant); Terpstra, Rob (Sports Editor); McLeod, Sarah (Sports Assistant); Maher, Beth (Illustrator); Lambert, Christine (Layout Editor); Murray, Sarah (Layout Assistant); Dynes, Liam (Chief Photographer); Friesen, Katie (Assistant Photographer); Evenden, Steve (Managing Editor); Woodward, Paula (Advertising Director); Bradley, Brian (Senior Staff Writer); Armstrong, Amy (Staff Writer); Hillier, Kayla (Staff Writer); Maracle, Wray (Staff Writer); Siklosi, Kate (Staff Writer)
The Press, Volume 40, Issue 26 includes: The BUSU presidential election will run again; Brock receives $65,023 from Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support Deborah O’Leary’s research; Port Colbourne plans to be the home of a future energy park in 2006 or 2007; Dave Weatherall reflects on his eight-day trek through Israel as part of the United Israel Appeal of Canada’s program designed to help non-Jewish students better understand the conflict.