Animal Sciences Commons^™

Elucidating Aposematic Patterns In North American Hylids, Joseph S. Cannizzaro Iv

Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing form and function of animal defenses is paramount to understanding the ecological and evolutionary forces behind predator and prey dynamics. Color patterns are strongly related to defensive strategies in animals. Some rely on camouflage to avoid detection, while others are brightly colored and conspicuously signal their noxiousness to potential predators. Still others combine cryptic dorsal coloration with colorful patches that are concealed in resting position but are facultatively unveiled by special behavior or simply during activity. Such hidden conspicuous color patches may be an intermediate stage in the evolution from camouflage to aposematism. We investigated whether conspicuously colored thighs …

Nutrient Dynamics Of Freshwater Estuarine Sediments Disturbed By Dredging, Ryan Allan John Roekle

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the nutrient environment of sediments in the Milwaukee River estuary and the dynamics of those nutrients during simulated disturbance experiments within the context of large-scale dredging remediation. Surface sediments were collected from throughout the Milwaukee estuary (including river, harbor, and nearshore stations) by PONAR, centrifuged to separate porewater (interstitial water) from solid material, and filtered to further isolate and stabilize dissolved material. Porewaters were analyzed for dissolved nutrients including ammoniacal nitrogen (AN), nitrate, nitrite, and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP). Surface sediment porewaters within the estuary were often highly enriched in AN and SRP, which were often 10-2000x …

Monitoring Welfare In Captive Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) Using Individual Positional Behavior And Substrate Use Profiles, Joseph Lara

Theses and Dissertations

The welfare of captive chimpanzees partly depends on the structural features present in their enclosure. An individual’s manner of expressing positional behaviors depends on these environmental characteristics and may be reflective of their physical and mental health. This thesis seeks to further the scientific understanding of the relationships between positional behavior, substrate use and captive chimpanzee welfare. In pursuit of this goal, I designed and installed a novel vertical climbing aid onto a climbable platform structure within an enclosure at the chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimp Haven, in an effort to encourage mobility and vertical space use in the enclosure’s residents. Additionally, …

Stress And Parity Among Female Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus Pygerythrus) At Two Sites In South Africa, Jo Gansemer

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the hypothesis that in both Soetdoring and !Gariep populations, a femaleSouth African vervet's parity status (nulliparous or parous) affects her physiological stress levels. Vervet monkey ecology and life history are examined to contextualize the relationship between stress and parity. The testing of this hypothesis involves the analysis of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) of samples from nulliparous and multiparous adult females of the two different South African sites. The HCC was statistically analyzed to look for correlations between stress, parity status, and site. No significant relationship between stress and parity status was found. However, significant relationships were found …

Assessing The Trophic Positions Of Lake Michigan Fishes Using Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes, Benjamin Alan Turschak

Theses and Dissertations

Lake Michigan is the second largest Laurentian Great Lake and is characterized by broad spatiotemporal variation in ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling and energy flow. Variation in ecosystem processes—such as those induced by invasive dreissenid mussels—and subsequent changes in the spatiotemporal distribution of resources (i.e. prey or habitat) has resulted in major changes in Lake Michigan’s fish community. The ability of fish species to cope with spatiotemporal resource dynamics is at least partially dependent on their ability to shift apparent trophic position along various resource gradients. The objectives of this research were to quantify trophic positions of Lake Michigan …

Transcriptomics And Toxcast Data Identify Bioeffects In Zebrafish Embryos Exposed To Chemical Mixtures In An Effluent-Dominated Stream, Emma Meade

Theses and Dissertations

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent-dominated streams provide critical habitat for aquatic organisms but also continually expose them to complex mixtures of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) that can potentially impair growth, behavior, and reproduction. Limited toxicity data on the adverse biological impacts of in vivo exposure to these mixtures make it difficult to assess risk for aquatic organisms, particularly with respect to pharmaceuticals whose designed bioactivity often extends beyond conventionally monitored biological pathways. To address this knowledge gap, the goal of this thesis was to identify biomarkers of exposure to complex CEC mixtures relevant to specific chemicals …

Investigating Mechanisms Of Nanotoxicity Of A Next-Generation Lithium Cobalt Oxide Nanomaterial, Nicholas Joseph Niemuth

Theses and Dissertations

Commercial use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs; materials in the range of 1-100 nm) has grown dramatically since the discovery of the means to observe, characterize, and controllably synthesize these materials at the end of the 20th century. Today, ENMs represent a global market valued in the trillions of dollars, incorporated into products because of the unique properties they confer, including increased strength, catalytic activity, and interactions with light. In this time, ENMs have also grown from relatively simple first-generation materials, such as Au, Ag, and carbon ENMs, to complex next-generation materials incorporating numerous elements into materials with complex secondary structures, …

Molecular Weight Distributions And Size-Dependent Composition Of Dissolved Organic Matter In The Aquatic Continuum, Hui Lin

Theses and Dissertations

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in aquatic environments is one of the most important carbon reservoirs in global carbon cycling. The molecular weight of DOM is strongly related to a great number of biogeochemical reactions, influencing ecological functions and the fate of bioactive elements in aquatic ecosystems. A new technique coupling flow field-flow fractionation with fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) and parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis was developed to elucidate the variations in DOM composition and optical properties with molecular weight in the individual samples and their changes along the aquatic continuum. Based on the novel coupling technique, variations in DOM characteristics were …

Health Goals For Perfluorinated Alkyl Substances (Pfas): A Review Of Branched Isomers, The Role Of Industrial Sources, And The Implications Of Pfas In Biosolids On End-Of-Life Disposal Methods, Katarina Schulz

Theses and Dissertations

Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, have been used for over half a century, but have become an emerging contaminant of significant concern due to their newly found widespread occurrence and recalcitrance in the environment, their tendency to bioaccumulate, and the health effects now associated with a very low level of exposure. Many gaps in knowledge remain about the fate of these chemicals in the environment and the extent of their impacts on biota. This thesis aims to fill some of the recognized gaps in knowledge: differences between linear and branched isomers of PFAS, predicting the presence of PFAS …

Evaluation Of Sperm Cryopreservation For Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens) Broodstock Management, Sonya Ponzi

Theses and Dissertations

The demand for yellow perch in the Great Lakes region has withstood time despite declining yellow perch populations in the Great Lakes. Today aquaculture can aid in meeting the demand. However, the technologies such as cryopreservation which would allow for large-scale, year-round broodstock operations is underdeveloped. Cryopreservation of fish gametes has many practical applications for use in aquaculture including assistance in asynchronized spawns, preservation of genetic resources with known pedigree and quality, and simplification of gamete transportation. This thesis evaluated the most current yellow perch semen cryopreservation protocol to determine whether fresh and cryopreserved semen differ in their ability to …

Analysis Of Plant Biomass Production Comparing Decoupled Aquaponics Against Equivalent Single-Loop Aquaponic And Hydroponic Systems Growing Lactuca Sativa, Haley Luise Lucas

Theses and Dissertations

Aquaponics is an emerging method of agriculture in which fish and plants are grown in an enclosed and recirculating environment. The method mimics a relationship found in nature where fish waste provides nutrients for plants and plants cleanse the water for the benefit of the fish. This symbiotic relationship has proven to be a sustainable method of agriculture in which there is less water use, no need for pesticides or herbicides, recycling of nutrient waste and a smaller spatial footprint. However, the production of both plants and fish in a recirculating aquaponics system has produced less yield and profit when …

Yellow Perch, Perca Flavescens, Growth And Survival On Different Feeds And In Low Salinity Environments, Peter Luther Shep

Theses and Dissertations

The development of effective culture techniques in the rearing of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) (Mitchill 1814) has multi-lateral benefits including enriching recreational resources, helping conservation efforts, as well as providing quality sea-food production. A myriad of challenges is yet to be remediated if yellow perch aquaculture is going to prosper. One of the challenges that hinders yellow perch aquaculture is the lacking supply of high-quality fingerlings. With current techniques employed by yellow perch hatcheries, the survival of yellow perch up to 30-day post hatch (DPH) age is typically less than 10%. Furthermore, larval culture has depended on imported dry feed …

Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Bloom Ecology And Cyanotoxins In The Eutrophic Lake Winnebago-Green Bay Water System, Sarah L. Bartlett

Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) are frequently observed in water bodies used for recreation and drinking water production and can be detrimental to humans, animals, and general water quality. CyanoHABs are natural occurrences, but human activities such as agriculture, land use change, and runoff from urban and rural landscapes can promote and accelerate their expansion. The blooms are aesthetically unpleasing scums and can be laden with toxins (cyanotoxins) and toxic or otherwise bioactive peptides (TBPs) that can be harmful to humans and animals. Despite the vast research on cyanoHABs, cyanotoxin and TBP diversity and dynamics within a water column are …

River Influence On The Nearshore Ecosystem Of Western Lake Superior, Joshua Delvaux

Theses and Dissertations

As the interface between the terrestrial landscape and the open lake, nearshore areas of the Great Lakes play an important role in modulating whole-lake response to inputs of nutrients and energy from the watershed. These inputs occur primarily via tributary loading, and so it is critical to understand the dynamics of river plumes and the fate of organic carbon and nutrients delivered in the plumes. To assess the influence of river plumes on the biogeochemistry and metabolism of the Lake Superior nearshore zone, the spatial and temporal distribution of turbidity, nutrients, phytoplankton, dissolved oxygen, and dissolved carbon dioxide were measured …

A Hemimysis Driven Novel Ecosystem At A Modified Boulder Breakwall, Eric John Geisthardt

Theses and Dissertations

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is mandated to maintain and repair aging breakwall structures in all commercial ports on the Great Lakes. In May of 2014, the construction of Milwaukee Harbor USACE “green” breakwall (GBW) reconciliation created complex rocky aquatic habitat by depositing cobble-sized stone as a veneer over standard 6-10 ton boulders, thus creating “control” (boulder) and “treatment” (cobble) habitats. The breakwall is home to a prolific population of Hemimysis anomala, the introduced Ponto-Caspian mysid, which is significantly more abundant on cobble versus boulders (p<0.05, using a novel trap for Hemimysis). Fish and forage communities were sampled in 2015 and 2016 using a combination of experimental and micromesh gill nets, night scuba diving surveys, and a novel Hemimysis trap. This nearshore lithophilic mysid appears to provide a significant new seasonal food resource in the Milwaukee Harbor for pelagic prey fishes during inshore spawning migrations and upwelling events. Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) fed heavily on Hemimysis with some individuals consuming hundreds of mysids. Night scuba diving surveys and gill netting confirmed that rainbow smelt preferred to forage on the cobble section (p<0.05), and also consumed more Hemimysis there than they did at the control breakwall site (p<0.05). Hemimysis were also the primary food item consumed by nearshore game fishes such as YOY yellow perch (Perca flavescens), YOY largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and juvenile rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) caught at the breakwall. This study provides the first documented evidence that where abundant in the Laurentian Great Lakes, Hemimysis do have the ability to significantly impact local food webs and drive the feeding ecology of both pelagic transient and nearshore resident fishes.

The Role Of Phototaxis In The Initial Swim Bladder Inflation Of Larval Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens)., Christopher Ryan Suchocki

Theses and Dissertations

The North Central Regional Aquaculture Center has designated the yellow perch (Perca flavescens) as a high priority species for culture. The demand for this species is high and it is estimated that the market could readily consume 50 to 100 million pounds per year. Tank culturing of yellow perch has several advantages over pond culture and this method has been growing in popularity, but is currently held back by problems in larval development. One of these problems, failed swim bladder inflation (SBI), is frequently reported in the literature as a bottleneck in the culture of many fishes. Unsuccessful SBI increases …

Development Of An Automated Detection System For Nitrite In Aquatic Environments, Tim Schierenbeck

Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of the project is to develop an automated nitrite sensor for use in aquatic environments, and more specifically for use in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), where monitoring can help sustain a controlled environment, protect against nitrite intoxication, and promote fish health. Detecting nitrite manually with semi-quantitative colorimetric test kits, although inexpensive and simple, is prone to inter-user variability and poor sensitivity. An automated nitrite sensor has potential to provide higher resolution measurements at both concentration and time scales and can serve as a research tool for the study of filtration systems essential in maintaining a healthy RAS …

Assessment Of Benthic Habitat Quality In Lower Green Bay, Lake Michigan With Special Regard To Potential Hexagenia Recolonization, Christopher Michael Groff

Theses and Dissertations

With environmental remediation in the Great Lakes, Hexagenia have recovered or are recovering in systems from which they were once extirpated. An active Hexagenia recovery does not appear to be taking place in lower Green Bay. This study first examines the highly fluidized nature of lower Green Bay sediment as a possible cause for their lack of recovery due to nymphs’ potential inability to construct and maintain burrows essential to the completion of their life cycles. Hexagenia bilineata nymphs collected from the Upper Mississippi River were distributed into oxygenated aquaria containing substrates from lower Green Bay or the Upper Mississippi …

Captive Chimpanzee Group And Individual Space Use In A Naturalistic Enclosure, Amanda Epping

Theses and Dissertations

Current research continues to identify the cognitive and social abilities of chimpanzees, as well as the imperative to provide a complex environment in captivity that allows them to practice and use their minds appropriately (Ross 2009). The goal of this research is to investigate how chimpanzee social relationships change based on the available amount of enclosure space in a captive setting. The project’s study group is made up of six captive born chimpanzees housed in a naturalistic enclosure at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois. Data is taken daily as a part of a long-term study at the Lester …

Neurobehavioral And Gene Expression Effects Of Early Embryonic Methylmercury Exposure In Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens) And Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Larvae, Francisco Xavier Mora Zamorano

Theses and Dissertations

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a pervasive and persistent neurotoxic environmental pollutant known to affect the behavior of fish, birds and mammals. The present study addresses the neurobehavioral and gene expression effects of MeHg in yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. The rationale for this study originated from an interest to understand the behavioral and molecular phenotypes of environmental MeHg exposure in the yellow perch, an ecologically and economically relevant species of the North American Great Lakes region. Both MeHg and the yellow perch coexist in a common ecosystem: the North American Great Lakes. However, the effects of this …

Round Goby-Induced Changes In Young-Of-Year Yellow Perch Diet And Habitat Selection, Christopher John Houghton

Theses and Dissertations

A critical step in the recruitment of age-0 yellow perch (Perca flavescens) to the

adult population occurs during their transition to the demersal stage. If larval age-0

yellow perch survive recruitment bottlenecks imposed by alewife (Alosa

pseudoharengus) and dreissenid mussels, they transition to demersal feeding in late

August and early September. In Lake Michigan, demersal age-0 yellow perch seek

rock substrate where they begin feeding on benthic invertebrates in late summer.

That research preceded the invasion of the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), a

species that can have negative impacts on benthic forage. The current study used

the spread of round …

Phosphorus Recycling By Profunda Quagga Mussels In Lake Michigan, Caroline Mosley

Theses and Dissertations

Quagga mussels (Dreissena rostiformis bugensis) act as ecosystem engineers in the southern basin of Lake Michigan, altering physical habitats and biogeochemical processes. Adapted to cold and oligotrophic conditions, profunda quagga mussels thrive on the soft substrate of deeper depths. At a 55 m site (10,000 mussels m-2) offshore from Milwaukee, WI, profunda mussel biomass (g m-2) was 1/3 of biomass (g m-2) measured at a 10 m comparison site (5,000 mussels m-2). Higher densities but less biomass is due to profunda mussels having less tissue for a given length and the population per m2 comprising of mostly small mussels ( …

Habitat Preferences Of The Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles Minor) In Cities And Villages In Southeastern Wisconsin, Jana M. Viel

Theses and Dissertations

Limited survey data and numerous anecdotal accounts indicate that the Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) is experiencing population declines in Wisconsin. However, the magnitude of the decline is unclear because current avian monitoring efforts are not conducted at dusk when Common Nighthawks are most active nor do they specifically target urban areas such as cities and villages where Common Nighthawks are known to nest on flat graveled rooftops. New urban, crepuscular monitoring methods are needed in order to gain a better understanding of current Common Nighthawk demographics in Wisconsin.

The goal of this thesis was to conduct a baseline study using …

Plankton Trophic Structure Within Lake Michigan As Revealed By Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes, Zachery G. Driscoll

Theses and Dissertations

Zooplankton represent a critical component of aquatic food webs in that they transfer energy from primary producers to higher trophic positions. However, their small size makes the application of traditional trophic ecology techniques difficult. Fortunately, novel techniques have been developed that can be used to elucidate feeding information between zooplankton species. I used the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios to estimate the trophic structure of Lake Michigan's zooplankton community. The major zooplankton species, three size classes of seston, and seston from specific water column depths were collected in 2011 and 2012 for stable isotope analysis. Trophic position …

The Role Of The Amygdala, Retrosplenial Cortex, And Medial Prefrontal Cortex In Trace Fear Extinction And Reconsolidation, Janine Lynn Kwapis

Theses and Dissertations

A wealth of research has outlined the neural circuits responsible for the consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction of standard "delay" fear conditioning, in which awareness is not required for learning. Far less is understood about the neural circuit supporting more complex, explicit associations. "Trace" fear conditioning is considered to be a rodent model of explicit fear because it relies on the cortex and hippocampus and requires explicit contingency awareness in humans for successful acquisition. In the current set of studies, we aimed to better characterize the neural circuit supporting the consolidation, reconsolidation, and extinction of trace fear in order to better …

Nearshore Benthic Oxygen Dynamics In Lake Michigan, Emily H. Tyner

Theses and Dissertations

The intense colonization of the Laurentian Great Lakes by dreissenid mussels has profoundly changed ecosystem processes, particularly benthic oxygen dynamics. Dissolved oxygen concentrations in mussel beds, sloughed Cladophora mats, and sediment indicate that hypoxia forms and disappears in some substrata (ephemeral Cladophora mats), while occurring consistently in others (depositional areas of sloughed Cladophora). Dissolved organic carbon concentrations are high (mean: 143 ± ± 28 ppm) in depositional Cladophora mats but lower (˂ 10 ppm) in most other environments. Field sampling and laboratory experiments suggest that under conditions of low water velocity and thick Cladophora cover, hypoxia may develop atop …

Changes In The Lake Michigan Trophic Structure: As Revealed By Stable C And N Isotopes, Benjamin Turschak

Theses and Dissertations

Food web structures which incorporate both slow (nearshore or detrital) and fast (pelagic) energy channels convey stability upon food web biota through asynchrony and multichannel trophic omnivory. Within the Lake Michigan food web, invasive dreissenid mussels have caused rapid changes to food web structure and energy flows. I used stable C and N isotopes and gut content analysis to determine how Lake Michigan food web structure and stability has changed in the past decade, coincident with the expansion of dreissenid mussels and a decrease in pelagic phytoplankton production. Fish and invertebrate samples collected near the port of Milwaukee, WI were …

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (Vhsv) Great Lakes Strain Ivb: Viral Detection, Mechanisms Of Infection, And Host-Virus Interactions In The Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens), Wendy Joy Olson

Theses and Dissertations

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is one of the most devastating and problematic viral fish diseases to plague the European aquaculture industry, and due to its pathogenicity, disease course, mortality rates, and wide host range, remains one of the most pathogenic viral diseases of finfish worldwide. A new freshwater strain of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus IVb (VHSV-IVb) in the Great Lakes has been found capable of infecting a wide number of naive species, and has been associated with large fish kills in the Midwestern United States since its discovery in 2005. In this study, the yellow perch, Perca flavescence, one …

Discrimination Trials To Influence Self-Awareness, Kerin A. Weingarten

Theses and Dissertations

Humans often use terms and concepts that include self- as prefix in an effort to explain their behavior (e.g., self-awareness, self-control) (Goldiamond, 1959, 1962, 1965, 1966; Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). Although there are many ways to interpret such terms, they all seem to involve circumstances in which individuals' own prior behavior is discriminative for their subsequent behavior. Behavior under the discriminative control of other behavior may be a kind of self-report (Skinner, 1957). The concepts of self-awareness and self-report can be studied as a behavioral process, without mentalistic inference. In the present research, pigeons were trained in a compound, discrete-trial …

A Preliminary, Annotated List Of Beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) From The Uw-Milwaukee Field Station, Daniel K. Young

Field Station Bulletins

Coleoptera, the beetles, account for nearly 25% of all known animal species, and nearly 18% of all described species of life on the planet. Their species richness is equal to the number of all plant species in the world and six times the number of all vertebrate species. They are found almost everywhere, yet many minute or cryptic species go virtually un-noticed even by trained naturalists. Little wonder, then, that such a dominant group might pass through time relatively unknown to most naturalists, hobbyists, and even entomologists; even an elementary comprehension of the beetle fauna of our own region has …