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Life Sciences Commons

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Animal Sciences

SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad

2008

Australia: Natural and Cultural Ecology

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Glandular Secretions Of Male Pteropus (Flying Foxes): Preliminary Chemical Comparisons Among Species, Jamie Wagner Oct 2008

Glandular Secretions Of Male Pteropus (Flying Foxes): Preliminary Chemical Comparisons Among Species, Jamie Wagner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Chemosignaling – passing information by means of chemical compounds that can be detected by members of the same species – is a very important form of communication for most mammals. Flying fox males have odiferous marking secretions on their neck-ruffs that include a combination of secretion from the neck gland and from the urogenital tract; males use this substance to establish territory, especially during the mating season. The secretions of flying fox males from three Australian species – spectacled (Pteropus conspicillatus), grey-headed (P. poliocephalus), and black (P. alecto) – were compared using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC); two spectacled females …


Corallivorous Reef Fishes As Potential Vectors Of Coral Disease Based On A Study Of Dietary Preferences, Tanya Rogers Oct 2008

Corallivorous Reef Fishes As Potential Vectors Of Coral Disease Based On A Study Of Dietary Preferences, Tanya Rogers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The prevalence of coral disease appears to be increasing worldwide, although little is known about how these diseases are transmitted between coral colonies. To examine whether corallivorous fishes could potentially act as disease vectors, this study examined whether and which fish species feed on diseased coral, and whether these fishes actively target diseased coral sections. Branches of Acropora muricata with brown band disease were filmed in the field, and bites taken by fishes on different sections of the coral (live tissue, tissue margin, disease band, dead skeleton, and algae) were recorded. For each fish species, electivity indices were calculated for …


Prey Selectivity Of Planktivorous Fish: Analysis Of Stomach Contents In Four Pomacentrids At Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, James O'Hare Apr 2008

Prey Selectivity Of Planktivorous Fish: Analysis Of Stomach Contents In Four Pomacentrids At Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, James O'Hare

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coral reef planktivores are important to coral reefs by concentrating and delivering nutrients and allochthonous carbon from the plankton to reef building corals. In an otherwise very oligotrophic system this function may be of major importance. Planktivorous Damselfish (Pomicentridae) were analysed for prey selectivity through enumeration of stomach contents. Simultaneous plankton tows were conducted to establish the plankton community composition of the waters they were taken from. There was a statistically significant variation between the stomach composition and that of the water column. While there was not a significant difference among Simpson’s diversity indices of the stomach contents, there was …


Aquatic And Terrestrial Habitat Use Of The Australian Freshwater Turtle, Chelodina Expansa, Ellyn Ercolano Apr 2008

Aquatic And Terrestrial Habitat Use Of The Australian Freshwater Turtle, Chelodina Expansa, Ellyn Ercolano

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Organisms select habitats that provide the best possible resources necessary to their survival. Organisms may occupy and utilize a home range which requires specific selection of components in their available habitat. Monitoring the threats to a species within their habitats is a crucial tool in conservation and management practices. The Murray-Darling Basin of south-eastern Australia has suffered alterations to its hydrology, flow regime, catchment size and usage, flooding cycles, as well as from vast removal of vegetation in the floodplains since European settlement in Australia in the mid-nineteenth century. Knowledge of the habitat use of a focal species can guide …