Life Sciences Commons^™

Summer Foraging Range And Diurnal Roost Selection Of Tri-Colored Bats, Perimyotis Subflavus., Dustin Bradley Thames

Masters Theses

Tri-colored bat populations are declining in eastern North America where the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans has been introduced. The pathogen causes disease and mortality in cave hibernating bats. Once considered a common species in Tennessee, tri-colored bats are now being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act. There is a paucity of research examining the basic ecology of tri-colored bats. Research to fill these knowledge gaps is needed to inform conservation plans and to define critical habitat. The first objective of my research was to characterize the summer diurnal roosts of tri-colored bats and to examine roost selection at …

Predicting Voluntary Forage Intake Of Supplemented Beef Cattle, Connor Biehler

Masters Theses

A major priority of beef cattle production is to meet animal nutrient requirements in order to achieve a desired level of productivity. Accurately predicting voluntary forage intake (VFI) is necessary to accurately predict the total nutrient intake of grazing or forage-fed beef cattle that are also supplemented with other sources of nutrients. Therefore, the objectives of this experiment were to utilize data from published literature to 1) identify factors that explain variation in VFI, and 2) develop and validate one or more mathematical models that predict VFI or total nutrient intake of grazing or forage-fed and supplemented beef cattle. A …

Forage Species Selection For Transitional Organic Production In The Southeastern United States, Jonathan Kubesch

Masters Theses

Despite the vast production markets for forage and organic products nationally, so far limited work has been done to develop organic forages specifically for Middle Tennessee or the mid-South in general. The present organic research field focuses on vegetable and grain production; however, forage production offers an easier transition for producers moving into certified organic agriculture. The present study seeks to evaluate several forage blends for optimizing forage production under low-input transitional organic conditions. Ideally a forage system could be tailored to the beef cattle operations of Middle Tennessee, the dominant forage consumption market in this region of the mid-South. …

An Annotated Atlas Of The Freshwater Fishes Of North Carolina, Bryn H. Tracy, Fred C. Rohde, Gabriela M. Hogue

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

North Carolina’s first state-specific checklist of freshwater fish species was published in 1709 by John Lawson. Subsequent species lists with descriptions included: Brickell (1737), Cope (1870a), Jordan (1889a), Jordan and Evermann (1896-1900), Smith (1907), Jordan et al. (1930), Fowler (1945), Louder (1962), Ratledge et al. (1966), Menhinick et al. (1974). In 1991, Menhinick published “The Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina”, which is still widely in use because a comprehensive update has not been produced since its publication. The increase in the availability of historical records in globally accessible databases and the surge of collections post-1991 …

Microbial And Metabolomic Biomarkers Of Feed Efficiency In Angus Cattle, Brooke Ashley Clemmons

Doctoral Dissertations

In Tennessee and the United States, cattle account for a significant proportion of the livestock agricultural sector. In the beef cattle industry, 40-70% of the total cost of production comes from feed costs, resulting in billions of dollars going towards feeding cattle. Thus, identifying methods for improving feed efficiency is imperative for reduced feed input costs and more effective use of environmental and economic resources. The rumen microbiome contributes a vast amount of nutrients for the host ruminant, including approximately 70% of energy precursors as well as vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients. These microbes produce metabolites that are then available …

Improving Body Composition In Broiler Chicks Through The Early Life Diet, Kamille Piacquadio

Masters Theses

The poultry industry relies heavily on the efficient growth performance of broilers to provide quality breast meat at a low cost to meet consumer demand. However, high efficiency of broilers is also related to the occurrence and severity of skeletal muscle abnormalities like wooden breast. This study investigated the efficacy of incorporating long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), into the diets of hens and their offspring on altering the causative features of wooden breast. Early exposure to these fatty acids in broilers has shown to reduce adiposity, and may address excess adipogenesis seen in …

Effects Of A Moderate And Aggressive Implant Strategy On The Rumen Microbial Community And Metabolome In Steers, Madison Henniger

Masters Theses

The effects of growth-promoting implants have been well-defined for their ability to impact growth in beef cattle. Production-relevant microbiomes in the rumen have also been associated with growth traits. However, the role of implant strategies on the rumen microbiome is not understood. The objective was to determine if varying doses of implant hormones cause gain-associated ruminal microbial community shifts. To assess this, a completely randomized design was used and 336 fall-born steers between 450-470 days of age from the germplasm evaluation population at the US Meat Animal Research Center (Clay Center, NE) were divided into two treatment groups: 1) a …

Volume 16, Number 1 (Spring/Summer 2020), Ut Institute Of Agriculture

Tennessee Land, Life and Science Magazine

Issue Highlights:

• The four pillars of the Institute of Agriculture
• Alumna forges partnership amid Waldo Canyon fire
• Fishery biologists revive a river

Size Selective Parasitism Of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) By Chestnut Lampreys (Ichthyomyzon Castaneus) In An Artificial Setting, Jeremiah M. Salinger, Ronald L. Johnson

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

Paradigms of optimal resource utilization by animals, both classical and more recent, were not originally developed in the context of parasitism. Though this oversight has slowly been reversed, little attention has been paid to optimal resource utilization by parasitic fishes, such as lampreys. Multiple explanations for host size selection by parasitic lampreys may be plausible, but results from previous studies have been inconsistent. We studied host size selection by Chestnut Lampreys (Ichthyomyzon castaneus) parasitizing Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in fish hatchery raceways in north central Arkansas during the late winter and early spring of 2013. Parasitized …

Movement Of Translocated Adult Sicklefin Redhorse (Moxostoma Sp.) In The Oconaluftee River, North Carolina: Implications For Species Restoration, Jessica L. Davis, David P. Gillette, C. Reed Rossell Jr., Michael J. Lavoie

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The Sicklefin Redhorse is a rare, undescribed species of Moxostoma, endemic to the Hiwassee and Little Tennessee River basins of western North Carolina and northern Georgia, where it has been eliminated from much of its native range. It is listed as endangered in Georgia and threatened in North Carolina. Although it has not been granted federal protected status, this species is the subject of a Candidate Conservation Agreement between federal, state, tribal, and private stakeholders, of which one objective calls for the re-establishment of Sicklefin Redhorse populations throughout its historical range. The objective of our study was to evaluate …

Status Of The Blackstripe (Fundulus Notatus) And Blackspotted (F. Olivaceus) Topminnows In The Ozark Uplands Of Central Missouri, Nathaniel Steffensmeier, Naznin Sultana Remex, Robert Hrabik, David D. Duvernell

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The topminnow species Fundulus notatus and F. olivaceus have broadly overlapping geographic distributions that extend throughout much of the central and southern United States. In the northern portion of their respective ranges, in Missouri, the regional distributions of the two species coincide largely with recognized ecoregions. In the unglaciated southern half of Missouri, F. olivaceus is distributed throughout Ozark upland habitats while F. notatus is abundant in marginal large river and prairie habitats along the Ozark borders. An exception to this partitioning is the historical report of abundant F. notatus in the Bourbeuse and upper Meramec River drainages within the …

Use Of Dead Mussel Shells By Madtom Catfishes In The Green River, Jacob F. Brumley, Philip W. Lienesch

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The Green River in Kentucky has high fish and macroinvertebrate diversity. As both fish and macroinvertebrates have evolved together in this system, relationships have developed between species. One type of relationship that has been observed is between madtom catfishes (Noturus spp.) and mussels in the Green River, where madtoms use dead mussel shells as cover when not actively foraging. In the fall of 2016 and 2017, surveys were conducted to determine if madtom catfishes use dead mussel shells more than rocks of similar size. We predicted that madtoms would select mussel shells as cover more frequently than rocks due …

Developmental Regulation Of Sirtuin Genes In Broiler Chicks, Heather L. Winter

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Outperformed: Exploration And Comparison Of The Tongue-And-Cheek Tragedies Of Women-Animal Relationships In Selected Short Stories By Samanta Schweblin And In Apichatpong Weerasethakul’S Film, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Sawnie Smith

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

The unsettling short stories that comprise Samanta Schweblin’s 2008 collection Pájaros en la boca are textured and populated by the flesh of not only humans, but also the skins of species that belong to a wider zoological and mythical scope. Those creatures in Schweblin’s literary output who possess scales, feathers, and wings find themselves variously rubbing up against, crushed under, and orally engulfed by human dermis. This essay seeks to explore the charge of gender politics that courses through interactions between human women and (demi-) animals in two short stories from this collection: “El hombre sirena” and “Olingiris”—animal contact with …

Volume 16, Number 2 (Fall/Winter 2020), Ut Institute Of Agriculture

Tennessee Land, Life and Science Magazine

Issue Highlights:

• The four pillars of the Institute of Agriculture
• Alumna forges partnership amid Waldo Canyon fire
• Fishery biologists revive a river