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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Interference In White Bass Reproduction By Two Introduced Predators In Barren River Lake, Kentucky, Jacob Franklin Fose
Interference In White Bass Reproduction By Two Introduced Predators In Barren River Lake, Kentucky, Jacob Franklin Fose
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
White bass Morone chrysops are native to the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This range includes the Barren River in south central Kentucky. Over the last thirty years, the population of white bass in Barren River Lake, a reservoir of the Barren River, has been in decline. During that same time, two congeners of white bass have been introduced to the lake. Hybrid striped bass Morone chrysops × Morone saxatilis were introduced in 1979 and yellow bass Morone mississippiensis were first discovered in 2000. Due to the similar life histories and spawning strategies of all three Morone species, I hypothesized …
Presence And Function Of Tetrodotoxin In Terrestrial Vertebrates And Invertebrates, Amber N. Stokes
Presence And Function Of Tetrodotoxin In Terrestrial Vertebrates And Invertebrates, Amber N. Stokes
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin found in a variety of species. This toxin has long been of concern to human health as it is found in puffer fish, which are a delicacy in Japan. Since the distribution of this toxin is so great, there are many questions regarding the evolution and ecology of organisms that have TTX. My research has focused on further investigating three topics with this research: production, predation, and identification of novel TTX bearing taxa. In order to perform this research I first refined a Competitive Inhibition Enzymatic Immunoassay methodology to quantify levels of TTX in …
Predation And Behavioral Plasticity In Green Swordtails: Mate Choice In Females And Exploratory Behavior In Males, Andrew J. Melie
Predation And Behavioral Plasticity In Green Swordtails: Mate Choice In Females And Exploratory Behavior In Males, Andrew J. Melie
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Two studies were carried out with green swordtails, Xiphophorus helleri, to investigate the effect of predation on swordtail behavior, and to determine how behavioral plasticity operates in both a mate choice and an anti-predator context. Male green swordtails vary in colorful conspicuous traits, e.g. the colorful dorsal fin and sword. Female swordtails have a preexisting bias for males with a sword, and prefer long-sworded males to short-sworded males, but this preference is plastic. The first study examined predator-related plasticity in the behavior of males differing in size. Smaller males showed greater behavioral plasticity; they were more active in the absence …
Nest Success And Habitat Choice Of Wilson's Plovers In Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Preserve, South Carolina, Elizabeth Zinsser
Nest Success And Habitat Choice Of Wilson's Plovers In Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Preserve, South Carolina, Elizabeth Zinsser
All Theses
Little is known about the reproductive ecology of Wilson's Plover (Charadrius wilsonia). I conducted a study of nest site selection and nest success at a critical breeding area in South Carolina, USA. Data from other coastal nesting birds in the region suggest that a suite of environmental factors including flooding and predation may limit nest success in this region. To assess nest success rates of Wilson's Plovers in an area with limited human disturbance I monitored 72 nests during 2012 and 2013 on South Island and Sand Island located in Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center and Heritage Preserve. I measured environmental …
Age Structure Of Moose (Alces Alces) Killed By Gray Wolves (Canis Lupus) In Northeastern Minnesota, 1967–2011, L. David Mech, Michael E. Nelson
Age Structure Of Moose (Alces Alces) Killed By Gray Wolves (Canis Lupus) In Northeastern Minnesota, 1967–2011, L. David Mech, Michael E. Nelson
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The ages of 77 adult Moose (Alces alces) killed by gray Wolves (Canis lupus) during the period 1967–2011 in northeastern Minnesota were significantly older than those of a sample of 17 585 Moose killed by hunters in nearby Ontario. Our findings support those of earlier studies of protected Moose populations in national parks that found that gray Wolves tend to kill disproportionately more older Moose.
Ontogenetic Shifts In Resource Allocation: Colour Change And Allometric Growth Of Defensive And Reproductive Structures In The Caribbean Spiny Lobster Panulirus Argus, Joshua R. Anderson, Angelo J. Spadaro, J. Antonio Baeza, Donald C. Behringer
Ontogenetic Shifts In Resource Allocation: Colour Change And Allometric Growth Of Defensive And Reproductive Structures In The Caribbean Spiny Lobster Panulirus Argus, Joshua R. Anderson, Angelo J. Spadaro, J. Antonio Baeza, Donald C. Behringer
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
Resource allocation theory predicts a disproportionately large allocation of resources to defensive structures during early ontogeny in organisms that are subject to more intense predation at smaller than at larger body sizes. We tested this prediction on the Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus, which exhibits a negative relationship between predation risk and body size with a high natural mortality of smaller individuals. Independent allometric growth analyses demonstrated that numerous defensive structures (e.g. orbital horns, segments supporting the antenna, the tail fan) display negative allometric growth throughout ontogeny. We interpret these findings as lobsters investing disproportionately more resources to defensive …