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Zoology

2020

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Articles 1 - 21 of 21

Full-Text Articles in Other Animal Sciences

Variation In Personality Among Semi-Wild Myanmar Timber Elephants, Sateesh Venkatesh Dec 2020

Variation In Personality Among Semi-Wild Myanmar Timber Elephants, Sateesh Venkatesh

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines two personality traits: exploration and neophobia, which could influence human-elephant conflicts. Thirty-one semi-wild elephants were tested over two trials using a custom novel puzzle tube containing three tasks and three rewards. Our studies show that elephants do vary significantly between individuals in both exploration and neophobia.


The Fear Of Reptiles And How To Change It, Maxwell Lyman Dec 2020

The Fear Of Reptiles And How To Change It, Maxwell Lyman

Honors Projects

Reptile fear is prominent across many cultures. Anti-reptilian attitudes can lead to anti-conservation attitudes towards reptiles. Person-animal interaction has been shown to decrease fear desensitization and increase positive attitudes towards "unpopular" animals. My project demonstrates the effectiveness of live animal presentation in dispelling negative attitudes of reptiles. However, due to the sample size of the project, further research is highly suggested.


Effects Of Temporal Variation On Ambient Light In Northwest Arkansas, Ashlyn Anderson Dec 2020

Effects Of Temporal Variation On Ambient Light In Northwest Arkansas, Ashlyn Anderson

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

An animal’s life success is determined solely by its fitness, which makes choosing a mate one of its most important life decisions. Natural selection plays a big part in an animal’s phenotype, but so does sexual selection. Even though females are usually thought to be the choosier sex, in many species or seasons males are also choosy. Male mate preference is an understudied topic compared to female mate preference and therefore, even less is known about the outcomes of a male’s prior mating experience’s influence on future mating experiences. Therefore, I dove deeper into this topic with the highly studied …


Multidecadal Analysis Of Beach Loss At The Major Offshore Sea Turtle Nesting Islands In The Northern Arabian Gulf, Rommel H. Maneja, Jeffrey D. Miller, Wenzhao Li, Rejoice Thomas, Hesham El-Askary, Sachi Perera, Ace Vincent B. Flandez, Abdullajid U. Basali, Joselito Francis A. Alcaria, Jinoy Gopalan, Surya Prakash Tiwari, Mubarak Al-Jedani, Perdana K. Prihartato, Ronald A. Loughlan, Ali Qasem, Mohamed A. Qurban, Wail Falath, Daniele Struppa Nov 2020

Multidecadal Analysis Of Beach Loss At The Major Offshore Sea Turtle Nesting Islands In The Northern Arabian Gulf, Rommel H. Maneja, Jeffrey D. Miller, Wenzhao Li, Rejoice Thomas, Hesham El-Askary, Sachi Perera, Ace Vincent B. Flandez, Abdullajid U. Basali, Joselito Francis A. Alcaria, Jinoy Gopalan, Surya Prakash Tiwari, Mubarak Al-Jedani, Perdana K. Prihartato, Ronald A. Loughlan, Ali Qasem, Mohamed A. Qurban, Wail Falath, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Undocumented historical losses of sea turtle nesting beaches worldwide could overestimate the successes of conservation measures and misrepresent the actual status of the sea turtle population. In addition, the suitability of many sea turtle nesting sites continues to decline even without in-depth scientific studies of the extent of losses and impacts to the population. In this study, multidecadal changes in the outlines and area of Jana and Karan islands, major sea turtle nesting sites in the Arabian Gulf, were compared using available Kodak aerographic images, USGS EROS Declassified satellite imagery, and ESRI satellite images. A decrease of 5.1% and 1.7% …


Diferenciación De Nicho Ecológico En Ranas Arborícolas De Las Familias Hylidae Y Phyllomedusidae En La Zona Noroccidental De Suramérica Como Resultado De La Variación De Rasgos Morfológicos, Carolina Rodríguez Puello Nov 2020

Diferenciación De Nicho Ecológico En Ranas Arborícolas De Las Familias Hylidae Y Phyllomedusidae En La Zona Noroccidental De Suramérica Como Resultado De La Variación De Rasgos Morfológicos, Carolina Rodríguez Puello

Biología

La ocupación diferencial de nichos ecológicos está influenciada por procesos bióticos y abióticos, que incluyen interacciones entre especies, características ambientales y disponibilidad de recursos. Sin embargo, en especies estrechamente relacionadas se ha sugerido que la ocupación diferencial de espacios ambientales está relacionada con variaciones morfológicas y condiciones climáticas particulares de cada hábitat. En este estudio, se determinó si en especies pertenecientes a las familias Hylidae y Phyllomedusidae, la diferenciación de nicho ecológico está asociada a la divergencia de rasgos morfológicos destinados al uso del hábitat. Para ello, usando 97 especímenes depositados en colecciones biológicas, se realizaron análisis morfométricos del cuerpo …


Functional Morphology Of Gliding Flight Ii. Morphology Follows Predictions Of Gliding Performance, Jonathan Rader, Tyson L. Hedrick, Yanyan He, Lindsay D. Waldrop Sep 2020

Functional Morphology Of Gliding Flight Ii. Morphology Follows Predictions Of Gliding Performance, Jonathan Rader, Tyson L. Hedrick, Yanyan He, Lindsay D. Waldrop

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The evolution of wing morphology among birds, and its functional consequences, remains an open question, despite much attention. This is in part because the connection between form and function is difficult to test directly. To address this deficit, in prior work we used computational modeling and sensitivity analysis to interrogate the impact of altering wing aspect ratio, camber, and Reynolds number on aerodynamic performance, revealing the performance landscapes that avian evolution has explored. In the present work, we used a dataset of three-dimensionally scanned bird wings coupled with the performance landscapes to test two hypotheses regarding the evolutionary diversification of …


Functional Morphology Of Gliding Flight I. Modeling Reveals Distinct Performance Landscapes Based On Soaring Strategies, Lindsay D. Waldrop, Yanyan He, Tyson L. Hedrick, Jonathan Rader Aug 2020

Functional Morphology Of Gliding Flight I. Modeling Reveals Distinct Performance Landscapes Based On Soaring Strategies, Lindsay D. Waldrop, Yanyan He, Tyson L. Hedrick, Jonathan Rader

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The physics of flight influences the morphology of bird wings through natural selection on flight performance. The connection between wing morphology and performance is unclear due to the complex relationships between various parameters of flight. In order to better understand this connection, we present a holistic analysis of gliding flight that preserves complex relationships between parameters. We use a computational model of gliding flight, along with analysis by uncertainty quantification, to 1) create performance landscapes of gliding based on output metrics (maximum lift-to-drag ratio, minimum gliding angle, minimum sinking speed, lift coefficient at minimum sinking speed); and 2) predict what …


Data For "Consistent Differences In A Virtual World Model Of Ape Societies", Bart J. Wilson, Sarah F. Brosnan, Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf, Crickette M. Sanz Aug 2020

Data For "Consistent Differences In A Virtual World Model Of Ape Societies", Bart J. Wilson, Sarah F. Brosnan, Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf, Crickette M. Sanz

Business and Economics Faculty Data Sets

The zip file contains the data for the paper entitled "Consistent Differences in a Virtual World Model of Ape Societies" which appears in Scientific Reports.


Spatial Ecology And Resource Selection Of Bighorn Sheep (Ovis Canadensis) Ewes In A Prairie Badlands Population, Erin Wood Jul 2020

Spatial Ecology And Resource Selection Of Bighorn Sheep (Ovis Canadensis) Ewes In A Prairie Badlands Population, Erin Wood

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The basic spatial ecology and habitat relationships of female bighorn sheep in Nebraska are poorly understood. Establishing seasonal patterns of space use and resource selection for this population at the margin of their historical and current range addresses a key knowledge gap and provides important baseline information for ongoing conservation efforts in Nebraska. We deployed GPS radio-collars on 56 adult ewes in western Nebraska to quantify seasonal space use, movements, and resource selection of ewes. To investigate spatial ecology, we quantified movements of ewes and the factors that influence home range size, seasonal use, and spatial stability across seasons. Home …


Brain Complexity, Sentience And Welfare, Donald M. Broom Jul 2020

Brain Complexity, Sentience And Welfare, Donald M. Broom

Animal Sentience

Neither sentience nor moral standing is confined to animals with large or human-like brains. Invertebrates deserve moral consideration. Definition of terms clarifies the relationship between sentience and welfare. All animals have welfare but humans give more protection to sentient animals. Humans should be less human-centred.


Using Object-Choice Tasks To Investigate Sensory Perception In Sunda Pangolins (Manis Javanica), Joshua Dipaola May 2020

Using Object-Choice Tasks To Investigate Sensory Perception In Sunda Pangolins (Manis Javanica), Joshua Dipaola

Theses and Dissertations

Pangolins are one of the most heavily poached, yet least understood mammals in the world. In this study, we used an object-choice task to assess the ecological relevance and use of sensory information in Sunda pangolin foraging behavior. This is the first controlled experiment on pangolin behavior to our knowledge.


Effect Of Calcium Supplement On Eyesight Of Western Tiger Salamanders, Abigail Horner, Dennis Ferraro Apr 2020

Effect Of Calcium Supplement On Eyesight Of Western Tiger Salamanders, Abigail Horner, Dennis Ferraro

UCARE Research Products

There has been some discussion in herpetoculture about adding calcium supplements to the diets of salamanders. Adding calcium supplements to a salamander’s diet has been indicated to contribute to blindness. Calcium supplements are usually given to reptiles and amphibians to prevent dietary deficiencies, particularly metabolic bone disease. The link between lack of calcium and metabolic bone disease is well established in reptiles, but is lacking significant research with regards to amphibians. Within the eye of a salamander, there are calcium channels that mediate photosynthetic rods in the absence of light. With a calcium rich diet, it is believed that these …


Immune-Endocrine Links To Gregariousness In Wild House Mice, Patricia C. Lopes, Esther H. D. Carlitz, Morgan Kindel, Barbara König Feb 2020

Immune-Endocrine Links To Gregariousness In Wild House Mice, Patricia C. Lopes, Esther H. D. Carlitz, Morgan Kindel, Barbara König

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Social interactions are critically important for survival and impact overall-health, but also impose costs on animals, such as exposure to contagious agents. The immune system can play a critical role in modulating social behavior when animals are sick, as has been demonstrated within the context of “sickness behaviors.” Can immune molecules affect or be affected by social interactions even when animals are not sick, therefore serving a role in mediating pathogen exposure? We tested whether markers of immune function in both the blood and the brain are associated with gregariousness, quantified as number of animals interacted with per day. To …


Multivariate Analysis Of Open Field Exploration Identifies Latent Spatial And Social Behavioral Axes In Domestic Dogs, Budhaditya Chowdhury, Moira Van Staaden, Robert Huber Jan 2020

Multivariate Analysis Of Open Field Exploration Identifies Latent Spatial And Social Behavioral Axes In Domestic Dogs, Budhaditya Chowdhury, Moira Van Staaden, Robert Huber

Advanced Science Research Center

Recent methodological advances in studying large scale animal movements have let researchers gather rich datasets from behaving animals. Often collected in small sample sizes due to logistical constraints, these datasets are however, ideal for multivariate explorations into behavioral complexity. In behavioral studies of domestic dogs, although automated data loggers have recently seen increasing use, a comprehensive framework to identify complex behavioral axes is lacking. Dog behavioral studies frequently rely on subjective ratings, despite demonstrable evidence that these are insufficient for identifying behavioral variables. Taking advantage of dogs’ innate running abilities and readily available GPS data loggers, we extracted latitude-longitude coordinates …


An Assessment Of Convergence In The Feeding Morphology Of Xiphactinus Audax And Megalops Atlanticus Using Landmark-Based Geometric Morphometrics, Edward Chase Shelburne Jan 2020

An Assessment Of Convergence In The Feeding Morphology Of Xiphactinus Audax And Megalops Atlanticus Using Landmark-Based Geometric Morphometrics, Edward Chase Shelburne

Master's Theses

Convergence is an evolutionary phenomenon wherein distantly related organisms independently develop features or functional adaptations to overcome similar environmental constraints. Historically, convergence among organisms has been speculated or asserted with little rigorous or quantitative investigation. More recent advancements in systematics has allowed for the detection and study of convergence in a phylogenetic context, but this does little to elucidate convergent anatomical features in extinct taxa with poorly understood evolutionary histories. The purpose of this study is to investigate one potentially convergent system—the feeding structure of Xiphactinus audax (Teleostei: Ichthyodectiformes) and Megalops atlanticus (Teleostei: Elopiformes)—using a comparative anatomical approach to assess …


A Troop, A Raft, A Bed, Hanna Jane Guendel Jan 2020

A Troop, A Raft, A Bed, Hanna Jane Guendel

Senior Projects Spring 2020

A Troop, a Raft, a Bed tells the interwoven fictional stories of three major animals (the mountain gorilla, the Adélie penguin, and the American eel) and four transitional animals (the white stork, the humpback whale, the common octopus, and the great white shark). The stories are told from the animals' perspectives, and are written with language that considers each animal's unique intelligence, mind, and behavior. These stories seek to communicate how animals around the world may be experiencing the various effects of climate change and global warming.


First Records For Spawning Of Caribbean Acropora Species In Colombian Mpas, David M. Hudson, Barrett L. Christie, Luis A. Gómez-Lemos, Camilo Valcarcel, Diego Duque, Juan C. Zárate Arévalo, Jaime Rojas, Otto Reyes, Milena Marrugo, Maria Rosa, Israel A. Caicedo Torrado, Diana Tarazona, Carlos Zuluaga Jan 2020

First Records For Spawning Of Caribbean Acropora Species In Colombian Mpas, David M. Hudson, Barrett L. Christie, Luis A. Gómez-Lemos, Camilo Valcarcel, Diego Duque, Juan C. Zárate Arévalo, Jaime Rojas, Otto Reyes, Milena Marrugo, Maria Rosa, Israel A. Caicedo Torrado, Diana Tarazona, Carlos Zuluaga

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Estimates of Colombian Caribbean coral percent cover in the Southern Caribbean are consistent with those throughout the Caribbean Sea, which has declined to about 10% of historical levels in the last few decades. Human activities like destructive fishing techniques in the marine parks have degraded the reefs over the last few decades. Colombia’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have thousands of square kilometers to map and patrol and few resources to devote to scientific and restoration efforts. Efforts to implement sexual reproduction techniques for restoration are starting to successfully propagate and settle corals on ceramic plates for reef deployment in the …


Evaluation Of The Impacts Of Radio-Marking Devices On Feral Horses And Burros In A Captive Setting, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah R. B. King, Gail H. Collins Jan 2020

Evaluation Of The Impacts Of Radio-Marking Devices On Feral Horses And Burros In A Captive Setting, Kathryn A. Schoenecker, Sarah R. B. King, Gail H. Collins

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Radio-collars and other radio-marking devices have been invaluable tools for wildlife managers for >40 years. These marking devices have improved our understanding of wildlife spatial ecology and demographic parameters and provided new data facilitating model development for species conservation and management. Although these tools have been used on virtually all North American ungulates, their deployment on feral horses (Equus ferus caballus) or burros (E. asinus) has been limited. To determine if radio-collars and radio-tags could be safely deployed on feral equids, we conducted a 1-year observational study in 2015 to investigate fit and wear of radio-collars …


Diet Of A Recently Reintroduced River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Population In Taos County, New Mexico, Gabriela Alexandra Wolf-Gonzalez Jan 2020

Diet Of A Recently Reintroduced River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Population In Taos County, New Mexico, Gabriela Alexandra Wolf-Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

North American river otters (Lontra canadensis), native to every U.S. state and Canada, experienced extensive population decreases and range reduction until the mid-20th century as a result of overexploitation and habitat loss during European colonization. The last known river otter in New Mexico was killed on the Gila River in 1953, although unverified reports continued thru 2008. After a nearly 60-year absence from New Mexico, 33 adult river otters were reintroduced to the Rio Pueblo de Taos in the northern part of the state between 2008-2010; however, they were not subsequently monitored or studied. I characterized diet of …


Artificial Intelligence And Covid-19: Deep Learning Approaches For Diagnosis And Treatment, M. B. Jamshidi, A. Lalbakhsh, J. Talla, Z. Peroutka, F. Hadjilooei, P Lalbakhsh, M. Jamshidi, L. La Spada, M. Mirmozafari, M. Dehghani, A. Sabet, Sa. Roshani, So. Roshani, N. Bayat-Makou, B. Mohamadzade, Z. Malek, A. Jamshidi, S. Kiani, H. Hashemi-Dezaki, W. Mohyuddin Jan 2020

Artificial Intelligence And Covid-19: Deep Learning Approaches For Diagnosis And Treatment, M. B. Jamshidi, A. Lalbakhsh, J. Talla, Z. Peroutka, F. Hadjilooei, P Lalbakhsh, M. Jamshidi, L. La Spada, M. Mirmozafari, M. Dehghani, A. Sabet, Sa. Roshani, So. Roshani, N. Bayat-Makou, B. Mohamadzade, Z. Malek, A. Jamshidi, S. Kiani, H. Hashemi-Dezaki, W. Mohyuddin

Faculty Publications

COVID-19 outbreak has put the whole world in an unprecedented difficult situation bringing life around the world to a frightening halt and claiming thousands of lives. Due to COVID-19 & x2019;s spread in 212 countries and territories and increasing numbers of infected cases and death tolls mounting to 5,212,172 and 334,915 (as of May 22 2020), it remains a real threat to the public health system. This paper renders a response to combat the virus through Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some Deep Learning (DL) methods have been illustrated to reach this goal, including Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), …


Group Differences In Mother-Infant Macaca Fascicularis Behavior, Parasite Load, And Body Condition Within An Anthropogenically Altered Forest, Elizabeth M.C. Coggeshall Jan 2020

Group Differences In Mother-Infant Macaca Fascicularis Behavior, Parasite Load, And Body Condition Within An Anthropogenically Altered Forest, Elizabeth M.C. Coggeshall

All Master's Theses

This study aimed to establish preliminary health and behavioral data, as well as understand group variation for a large population of Macaca fascicularis individuals within an anthropogenically altered monkey forest. A parasitic analysis of 40 mother and infant individuals showed that M. fascicularis carried 13 different parasitic taxa, and that there was parasitic variation between groups. Body condition scores were determined using a newly created and adapted body condition scale from 146 sampled mother macaques. Body condition scores were significantly different between groups, specifically the pond group when compared to the three other groups. Mother-infant behavioral differences were seen between …