Life Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Anthropogenic Sensory Pollution On Arthropod Diversity And Pollinator Behavior, Sierra Dee Rodriguez, Jennifer N. Phillips Phd

Masters Theses

Pollinators provide a key ecological function in terrestrial ecosystems, yet in recent years, they have encountered unprecedented declines, likely due to anthropogenic change. Light and noise pollution, which can interfere with the visual and auditory systems of animals that regulate daily behaviors, are important factors to consider when communities are encroached by human development. While many researchers have looked at how vertebrate species behaviorally react to human caused habitat degradation and sensory pollution, little is known about how invertebrates, including arthropod pollinators, are affected, and whether there is a negative cascading effect on the plants that they pollinate. This research …

Quantifying Planarian Behavior As An Introduction To Object Tracking And Signal Processing, Nicole C. Stowell, T. Goel, Vir Shetty , '22, Jocelyne Noveral, Eva-Maria S. Collins

Biology Faculty Works

Answers to mechanistic questions about biological phenomena require fluency in a variety of molecular biology techniques and physical concepts. Here, we present an interdisciplinary approach to introducing undergraduate students to an important problem in the areas of animal behavior and neuroscience—the neuronal control of animal behavior. In this lab module, students explore planarian behavior by quantitative image and data analysis with freely available software and low-cost resources. Planarians are ∼1–2-cm-long aquatic free-living flatworms famous for their regeneration abilities. They are inexpensive and easy to maintain, handle, and perturb, and their fairly large size allows for image acquisition with a webcam, …

Duet Phonology And Syntax Of The Red-Crowned Parrots In South Texas, Abigail Pozulp

Theses and Dissertations

Bird behavioral interaction systems show a preference for temporal precision. This preference is exemplified in the way many species avoid masking of vocal signals. Antiphonal duetting in songbirds suggest that overlapping notes are a sign of poor temporal coordination which can signify a weak pairbond, a possible cue for conspecifics seeking to usurp territories or mates. However, parrots (Psittacidae) are accomplished yet understudied duetters in nature. I recorded antiphonal duets produced by a wild population of red-crowned parrots (Amazona viridigenalis) in Brownsville, Texas. Temporal and acoustic variation of signals was assessed within and across a sample of mated …

Effects Of Early Corticosterone Treatment On Vocal Babbling In Wild Green-Rumped Parrotlets (Forpus Passerinus), Celia Rose Mclean

Theses and Dissertations

The stress axis of the endocrine system allows for animals to respond to environmental stressors in contextually appropriate ways. Elevated levels of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) in male songbirds can result in compromised song learning ability. Parrots form a sister group to songbirds, but it is unknown whether CORT affects vocal development in parrots. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of CORT supplements in green-rumped parrotlets (Forpus passerinus), a free-ranging parrot species in Venezuela. Bouts of vocal babbling were extracted from nest box videos and analyzed. CORT supplementation resulted in differences in babbling …

Is The Dewlap An Honest Signal Of Fighting Ability In The Male Green Anole (Anolis Carolinensis)?, Alexia Hughes

Graduate Theses

Signals are morphological or behavioral traits that an individual uses to influence the behavior or actions of another. These signals can be used in male-male competition, in which male secondary sexual traits act as a signal of his fighting ability. Animal signals are considered honest when the signal reliably indicates a specific trait or condition of the individual. The genus Anolis, comprised of over 400 species that occupy the tropics and the southeastern United States, utilize aggressive signaling prior to physical combat. Research on several tropical species of anole indicates that the size of their dewlap can act as an …

Investigating The Dynamic Interactions Of Rapidly Growing Precocial Shorebird Chicks, Luke R. Wilde

Theses and Dissertations

Organisms in dynamic environments must continually reassess the cost-benefit trade-offs of their interactions and adjust their behaviors accordingly. Nevertheless, ecological research often takes a ‘snapshot’ approach to studying interactions across sample locations and timepoints. Investigating ecological interactions in this way can miss important information about the influence spatiotemporal context has on the scale and direction of their effects. Longitudinal studies that follow individuals can elucidate how changing contexts affect an individual’s ecology while deepening our understanding of adaptive behavior. However, determining how context influences the effect of an interaction requires it be measured across a range of spatiotemporal conditions. Studying …

Effects Of Varying Heat Indexes On Habitat Utilization And Behavior On Captive Red-Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia Rubra), Jeffrey Gammon

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The two captive red-ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) at the Central Florida Zoo experienced a more temperate climate and utilized a differing habitat than they would in their native range, Madagascar. Proper management of the species in captivity is crucial for its long-term survival as they are critically endangered. Over a four month period, heat index temperature, lemur behavior, and habitat utilization data were collected via an instantaneous scan sample. Variables were analyzed to characterize how variations in heat index alter habitat utilization and behavior of the captive lemurs. As the heat index increased, habitat use became more restricted …

Observational Study Of Two Ex Situ North American River Otters (Lontra Canadensis), Julia Rifenberg

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Zoos enable the ability to study how captive conditions impact the behaviors of animals. In this study, I observed two North American river otters housed at the Central Florida Zoo to evaluate behavioral changes after the male had been removed from the female for a month-long medical examination. The aim of this study was to 1) determine if mating behaviors were still occurring between the two river otters following the male’s removal and 2) to assess the welfare of the male and female river otters in captivity by observing their interactions and individual behaviors. Observed behaviors were compared to documented …

Change In The Behaviors And Spatial Use Of Canada Lynx (Lynx Canadensis) Over Time At John Ball Zoo, Hailee Cederquist

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

Felines are popular attractions at zoos across the country, even more so when young animals are involved. As such caretakers strive to ensure that their animal’s needs are met, and individuals display healthy behaviors and activity levels in comparison to their wild counterparts (Mcphee & Carlstead, 2010). However, cats, being wide-ranging carnivores, are known to be prone to stereotypical behaviors which can be detrimental to an animal’s health (Clubb & Mason, 2003). At John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, we observed the behaviors and spatial use of 3 Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) during the summer of 2020; an adult …

Quantifying Species Traits Related To Oviposition Behavior And Offspring Survival In Two Important Disease Vectors, Donald A. Yee, William C. Glasgow, Nnaemeka F. Ezeakacha

Faculty Publications

Animals with complex life cycles have traits related to oviposition and juvenile survival that can respond to environmental factors in similar or dissimilar ways. We examined the preference-performance hypothesis (PPH), which states that females lacking parental care select juvenile habitats that maximize fitness, for two ubiquitous mosquito species, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus. Specifically, we examined if environmental factors known to affect larval abundance patterns in the field played a role in the PPH for these species. We first identified important environmental factors from a field survey that predicted larvae across different spatial scales. We then performed two experiments, …

Thing 1 And Thing 2 Are In A New Zoo: Changes In Behavior Of Amur Tigers Following Introduction To John Ball Zoo, Caitlin Gerke, Faith Hensley

Student Scholars Day Posters

Animals alter their behavior in response to changes in their environment such as alterations to their enclosure, social group, or husbandry routine. In 2018, two related, young adult Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) were transferred to the John Ball Zoo (JBZ). The male siblings were given access to a spacious, wooded outdoor enclosure (area = 920 m²). We used Zoomonitor in 2018 and 2019 to conduct focal-animal sampling of the two males. We recorded state behaviors in 30 sec intervals of scan sampling, and all occurrences of event behaviors, both during 30 min sampling sessions. Our study objective …

Battle For The Top: Killer Whales Vs. White Sharks, Michael P. Mcdonough

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

From Organisms To Ecosystems: Impacts Of Limb Loss And Regeneration On Crayfish Behavior, Luc Arnaud Dunoyer

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The ability of some organisms to regenerate tissues and organs has fascinated naturalists since antiquity, dating back to the earliest accounts of scientific inquiry with Aristotle in Ancient Greece. Then, Darwin’s theory invigorated some scientists’ dream of stimulating (or reactivating) regenerative capacities in human beings by showing that we are related to highly regenerative organisms. More recently, a renewed interest in discovering the molecular and genetic basis for organ and tissue regeneration has led biologists to focus more specifically on a restrictive set of model organisms.

Although the process of limb regeneration is different between invertebrate and vertebrate organisms, it …

The Rattle Call: A Female-Specific Vocalization In Steller's Jays, Kachina L. Rowland

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

While the elaborate songs of male passerines are well documented for their role in intrasexual resource competition and mate attraction, vocalizations used in female competition are poorly understood. Research has suggested that the female-specific rattle call of Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) is used in competition for access to a territory and mate. I describe structural properties of the rattle call, and compare life history traits of individual females to rattle call occurrence. I used two rates to quantify rattle call occurrence from 20 females: rattles per observation period (RPO), and proportion of observations with a rattle call (POR) …

The Meaning Of Song Type: Exploring Behavioral Responses Of Field Sparrows To Three Simple Song Types, Eliza Foli

Honors Theses

The frequency, rate, and overall quality of a male’s song may indicate the singer’s physical quality, either as a threat or as a potential mate, and are used for species recognition. However, the degree to which a song must differ acoustically to communicate different information about the singer remains unclear. Analysis of male field sparrow simple song recorded in southwest Michigan revealed three structurally distinct clusters of simple song that differ in frequency characteristics. We hypothesize that songs in each cluster convey information about the singer and that receivers respond more strongly to songs more similar to their own song. …

Snowshoe Hares (Lepus Americanus) Alter Feeding Behavior In Response To Coyote (Canis Latrans) And Moose (Alces Alces) Cues At Diverse Vegetation Densities, Zachary K. Lankist

Student Scholarship

Prey interpret predator cues as a warning and use them to assess the danger of a given area. Multiple prey species avoid chemical cues from predators at feeding sites because the risk of death outweighs the benefit of food. However, we lack information regarding avoidance of chemical cues from competitors as well as how foraging behavior changes alongside vegetative cover. To test if chemical cues and veget~tive cover alter prey vigilance, number of visits, and time spent at feeding sites, I observed snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) in plots containing coyote (Canis latrans; predator) and moose (Alces alces; competitor) urine across …

Hormonebase, A Population-Level Database Of Steroid Hormone Levels Across Vertebrates, Maren N. Vitousek, Michele A. Johnson, Jeremy W. Donald, C. D. Francis, M. J. Fuxjager, W. Goymann, M. Hau, Jerry F. Husak, Bonnie K. Kircher, R. Knapp, L. B. Martin, E. T. Miller, L. A. Schoenle, J. J. Uehling, T. D. Williams

Biology Faculty Research

Hormones are central regulators of organismal function and flexibility that mediate a diversity of phenotypic traits from early development through senescence. Yet despite these important roles, basic questions about how and why hormone systems vary within and across species remain unanswered. Here we describe HormoneBase, a database of circulating steroid hormone levels and their variation across vertebrates. This database aims to provide all available data on the mean, variation, and range of plasma glucocorticoids (both baseline and stress-induced) and androgens in free-living and un-manipulated adult vertebrates. HormoneBase (www.HormoneBase.org) currently includes >6,580 entries from 476 species, reported in 648 publications from …

Role Of Nest Site Microclimate And Food Availability In Chick Development And Reproductive Success In Black-Legged Kittiwakes (Rissa Tridactyla), Lindsay Mae Lacey

Honors Theses

Seabirds are marine top predators, and as such are often studied as bioindicators of climate shifts (Oswald and Arnold 2012). Though many studies have analyzed the effect of macroclimatic variation on marine prey species availability and thus seabirds, few have analyzed effects of microclimate - fine spatial patterns of climate (Mantua and Hare 2002; Hatch 2013; Kim and Monaghan 2005a). I tested the hypothesis that localized temperature and humidity at nest sites interact with food availability to alter black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) nest site quality, chick body condition during growth and development, and reproductive parameters including Julian lay …

Why Does It Take Two To Tango? Lifetime Fitness Consequences Of Parental Care In A Burying Beetle, Ashlee N. Smith, J. Curtis Creighton, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

In species that require parental care, each parent can either care for their offspring or leave them in the care of the other parent. For each parent this creates three possible parental care strategies: biparental care, uniparental (male or female) care, and uniparental desertion by either the male or female. The burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis, typically exhibits biparental care of offspring, and thus provides a unique system that allows us to compare the fitness benefits of these parental care strategies in an unconfounded way. In this study, we assess the lifetime fitness of biparental care, uniparental care, and uniparental …

The Vocal Babbling Behavior And Its Sibling Effects In A Wild Parrot, Tatiana Dolgushina

Theses and Dissertations

Vocal learning is a rare trait in the animal kingdom, defined as the sensorimotor imitation of sounds, and is only found in select groups of birds and mammals. Parrots are a behaviorally complex group of birds, famous for their ability to mimic social companions, but how they develop this ability in the wild has received little attention. The vocal learning period consists of a complex vocal babbling stage, a crucial developmental precursor for imitation of adult vocalizations in humans and songbirds, but has not been described in any of the 360+ parrot species. This project quantifies potential individual variation in …

Improved Supervised Classification Of Accelerometry Data To Distinguish Behaviors Of Soaring Birds, Maitreyi Sur, Srisarguru Sridhar

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soaring birds can balance the energetic costs of movement by switching between flapping, soaring and gliding flight. Accelerometers can allow quantification of flight behavior and thus a context to interpret these energetic costs. However, models to interpret accelerometry data are still being developed, rarely trained with supervised datasets, and difficult to apply. We collected accelerometry data at 140Hz from a trained golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) whose flight we recorded with video that we used to characterize behavior. We applied two forms of supervised classifications, random forest (RF) models and K-nearest neighbor (KNN) models. The KNN model was substantially …

Mating Patterns And Post-Mating Isolation In Three Cryptic Species Of The Engystomops Petersi Species Complex, Paula A. Trillo, Andrea E. Narvaez, Santiago R. Ron, Kim L. Hoke

Biology Faculty Publications

Determining the extent of reproductive isolation in cryptic species with dynamic geographic ranges can yield important insights into the processes that generate and maintain genetic divergence in the absence of severe geographic barriers. We studied mating patterns, propensity to hybridize in nature and subsequent fertilization rates, as well as survival and development of hybrid F₁ offspring for three nominal species of the Engystomops petersi species complex in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador. We found at least two species in four out of six locations sampled, and 14.3% of the wild pairs genotyped were mixed-species (heterospecific) crosses. We also found reduced …

Evaluation Of Micro-Gps Receivers For Tracking Small-Bodied Mammals, Laura A. Mcmahon, Janet L. Rachlow, Lisa A. Shipley, Jennifer S. Forbey, Timothy R. Johnson, Peter J. Olsoy

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

GPS telemetry markedly enhances the temporal and spatial resolution of animal location data, and recent advances in micro-GPS receivers permit their deployment on small mammals. One such technological advance, snapshot technology, allows for improved battery life by reducing the time to first fix via postponing recovery of satellite ephemeris (satellite location) data and processing of locations. However, no previous work has employed snapshot technology for small, terrestrial mammals. We evaluated performance of two types of micro-GPS (< 20 g) receivers (traditional and snapshot) on a small, semi-fossorial lagomorph, the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), to understand how GPS errors might influence fine-scale assessments of space use and habitat selection. During stationary tests, microtopography (i.e., …

Analyzing And Modeling The Dysfunction Of Inhibitory Neurons In Alzheimer’S Disease, Carlos Perez, Jokubas Ziburkus, Ghamim Ullah

Physics Faculty Publications

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the abnormal proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein, resulting in increased production of a self-aggregating form of beta amyloid (Aβ). Several lines of work on AD patients and transgenic mice with high Aβ levels exhibit altered rhythmicity, aberrant neuronal network activity and hyperexcitability reflected in clusters of hyperactive neurons, and spontaneous epileptic activity. Recent studies highlight that abnormal accumulation of Aβ changes intrinsic properties of inhibitory neurons, which is one of the main reasons underlying the impaired network activity. However, specific cellular mechanisms leading to interneuronal dysfunction are not completely …

Viability Costs Of Reproduction And Behavioral Compensation In Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia Affinis), Clinton T. Laidlaw, Jacob M. Condon, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

The cost of reproduction hypothesis suggests that current reproduction has inherent tradeoffs with future reproduction. These tradeoffs can be both in the form of energy allocated to current offspring as opposed to somatic maintenance and future reproduction (allocation costs), or as an increase in mortality as a result of morphological or physiological changes related to reproduction (viability costs). Individuals may be able to decrease viability costs by altering behavior. Female western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis experience a reduction in swimming ability as a consequence of pregnancy. We test for a viability cost of reproduction, and for behavioral compensation in pregnant female …

The Evolution Of Genomic Imprinting: Theories, Predictions And Empirical Tests, M M. Patten, L Ross, J P. Curley, David C. Queller, R Bonduriansky, J B. Wolf

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

The epigenetic phenomenon of genomic imprinting has motivated the development of numerous theories for its evolutionary origins and genomic distribution. In this review, we examine the three theories that have best withstood theoretical and empirical scrutiny. These are: Haig and colleagues’ kinship theory; Day and Bonduriansky’s sexual antagonism theory; and Wolf and Hager’s maternal–offspring coadaptation theory. These theories have fundamentally different perspectives on the adaptive significance of imprinting. The kinship theory views imprinting as a mechanism to change gene dosage, with imprinting evolving because of the differential effect that gene dosage has on the fitness of matrilineal and patrilineal relatives. …

Fox Squirrel Response To Bark Calls, Michael Ryan Keller

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Sciurus niger (fox squirrel) produces a characteristic bark call that has long been assumed to serve as an alarm call. However, to date, no definitive research has been conducted to support these assumptions. Over the course of six months, I executed an audio playback study with free-living fox squirrels in central Indiana. When a squirrel came into view, its behavior was video recorded during a 30 second playing of either an S. niger bark call or a cardinal (Cardinalis cardinals) control call. The subjects were also filmed thirty seconds prior to and immediately following the call. Each squirrel's behavior was …

Tribute To Tinbergen: The Place Of Animal Behavior In Biology, Joan E. Strassmann

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

Tinbergen is famous for emphasizing behavioral fieldwork and experimentation under natural circumstances, for founding the field of ethology, for getting a Nobel Prize, and for mentoring Richard Dawkins. He is known for dividing behavior studies into physiology, development, natural selection, and evolutionary history. In the decades since Tinbergen was active, some of the best research in animal behavior fuses Tinbergen's questions, connecting genes to behavioral phenotypes, for example. Behavior is the most synthetic of the life sciences, because observing the actions of an organism can tell us what all those physical and physiological traits are for. Insights from behavior tell …

Relative Importance Of Male Song On Female Mate Selection In The Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia Guttata), Casey Sprague

Scripps Senior Theses

In the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), song and its social context play an important role in female mate selection. The song of the zebra finch is unique in that it can only be produced by males, which makes the species ideal for analyzing the components of male song that influence female song preference and mate selection. There are three consistent features of zebra finch song that affect female mate preference: 1) the amount of time a male sings, 2) the size and complexity of his song repertoire, and 3) the structural conformation to species or population norms (reviewed …

Effects Of A Chronic Increase In Plasma Corticosterone On The Brooding Behavior Of The Prairie Skink, Plestiodon Septentrionalis , Alexander James Anton

Student Work

The effects of chronic corticosterone (CORT) increases on the maternal behavior of the Prairie Skink, Plestiodon septentrionalis were studied in the laboratory during the summer of 2012. It was hypothesized that chronic increases in plasma CORT would result in decreased maternal effort and higher egg mortality, with similar results to analogous studies in birds. Plasma CORT was elevated using a non-invasive, exogenous treatment and behaviors were observed using video recordings. CORT treatments significantly reduced the amount of time spent tightly coiled around eggs in experimental individuals, and significantly decreased the amount of time experimental females spend in contact with their …