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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Methods For Drone Trajectory Analysis Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Jillian D. Bliss Dec 2022

Methods For Drone Trajectory Analysis Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Jillian D. Bliss

Theses and Dissertations

With the increase in the use of UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) for marine mammal research, there is a need for the development of methods of analysis to transform UAS high resolution video into quantitative data. This study sought to develop a preliminary method of analysis that would quantify and present a way to visualize the dynamics and relative spatial distribution and changes in distribution of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the waters of Turneffe Atoll, Belize. This approach employs a previously developed video tracking program ‘Keypoint Tracking’ that enables manual tracking of individual dolphins and the creation of …


Bobcat Identification, Abundance, And Behavior At Road Mitigation Structures In South Texas, Victoria Hanley Dec 2022

Bobcat Identification, Abundance, And Behavior At Road Mitigation Structures In South Texas, Victoria Hanley

Theses and Dissertations

Highways in South Texas fragment the landscape and result in high road mortality rates for the endangered US ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). In response, the Texas Department of Transportation constructed nine wildlife crossing structures (WCS) on Farm-to-Market (FM) 106 which adjoins Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in Cameron County, Texas. With ocelots being rare and elusive, bobcats (Lynx rufus) are often used as a surrogate species to study felid behavior at road mitigation structures in South Texas. Bobcats have unique markings which allow them to be individually identified. Three methods of individual identification of bobcats using camera …


Mechanisms And Treatment Of Pain-Depressed Behavior In Male And Female Mice, Clare M. Diester Jan 2022

Mechanisms And Treatment Of Pain-Depressed Behavior In Male And Female Mice, Clare M. Diester

Theses and Dissertations

One of the largest discrepancies between preclinical and clinical assessment of pain and analgesia is the type of behavioral endpoint used. Although most preclinical research has historically focused on drug effectiveness to block reflexive withdrawal behaviors stimulated by a noxious stimulus, increasing evidence shows that drug-induced restoration of pain-depressed behaviors provides increased clinical translation with decreased susceptibility to false-positives. Accordingly, the first portion of this dissertation designed a behavioral battery that featured pain-depressed behaviors as well as more conventional pain-stimulated behaviors for testing candidate analgesics in male and female mice. The main findings are as follows. (1) Intraperitoneal injection of …