Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Honors Theses

Series

2020

Ecology

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Anthropogenic Change On The Distribution Of Marine Megafauna And Their Prey, Baylie Fadool Oct 2020

Anthropogenic Change On The Distribution Of Marine Megafauna And Their Prey, Baylie Fadool

Honors Theses

Anthropogenic change is impacting the distribution and survival of marine megafauna and their prey. Humans are changing every aspect of the marine environment, with effects reaching as large as changing the composition of marine environments to directly overexploiting species through the fishing industry. The role that marine megafauna play in balancing ecosystems, including as top apex predators, leads to detrimental results in the absences and population declines of these species. Migrations and declines due to threats on marine apex predator species will alter their environments by causing mesopredator release and changes in community structure, which is often associated with reduced …


An Analysis Of Social Dominance In The Feeding Of Ex Situ Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus Humboldti), Robert Gabel Apr 2020

An Analysis Of Social Dominance In The Feeding Of Ex Situ Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus Humboldti), Robert Gabel

Honors Theses

In the field of ecology, complex social structures, including dominance hierarchies, have been demonstrated in a variety of fauna, including bird species. While wild Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) do not exhibit a feeding hierarchy, captive penguins are under very different conditions. Humboldt penguins feed on schooling fish in the wild, but in captivity are hand fed from a zookeeper. I investigated whether there is a nonrandom pattern of dominance in the feeding order of the penguins at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, in Lincoln, NE, USA. Using a camera and tripod, with assistance from four of the zookeepers, I …