Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Animals Represent The Past And The Future, Thomas R. Zentall

Psychology Faculty Publications

It has been proposed by some that only humans have the ability to mentallytravel back in time (i.e., have episodic memory) and forward in time (i.e., have the ability to simulate the future). However, there is evidence from a variety of nonhuman animals (e.g., primates, dolphins, scrub jays, rats, and pigeons) that they have some ability to recover personal memories of what-where-when an event occurred (an earlier requirement of the ability to recover an episodic memory) and answer unexpected questions (another requirement to distinguish between semantic and episodic memory). Also, perhaps more critically, according to Tulving’s more recent definition of …

Effects Of Climate Change On Pasture Production And Forage Quality, Rebecca L. Mcculley, Jim A. Nelson, A. Elizabeth Carlisle

Plant and Soil Sciences Presentations

Why Study Climate Change and Pastures?

Pastures cover more than 14 million hectares in the eastern half of the United States and support grazing animal and hay production while also contributing to the maintenance of overall environmental quality and ecosystem services. Climate change is likely to alter the function of these ecosystems. This manipulative field experiment evaluated the effect of warming and additional precipitation on forage production and quality.

What Did We Do?

We initiated a multi-factor climate change study, elevating air temperature (+3º C) and increasing growing season precipitation (+30% of long-term mean annual), in a central Kentucky pasture …

Climate Change Extension: Presenting The Science Is Necessary But Insufficient, Paul C. Vincelli, Rebecca L. Mcculley

Plant Pathology Presentations

Why Should We Consider How to Present Scientific Information?

To engage a wide spectrum of agricultural producers in the discussion of human-induced climate change and its mitigation.

What Did We Do?

Our initial Extension efforts on climate change in Kentucky were based on an information-deficit model, which assumes that citizens fail to accept climate change because they don’t understand the science. However, social science research indicates that this topic has cultural significance for many agricultural producers, suggesting that presentation of sound scientific information alone is likely to be unpersuasive. Based on social science research, we redesigned our outreach efforts to …

Ecophysiological Responses Of Tall Fescue Genotypes To Endophyte Infection And Climate Change, Marie Bourguignon

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Tall fescue is a widely used forage grass in the eastern USA and can form a symbiosis with a fungal endophyte, which can be beneficial for the plant but can cause livestock health issues. Little is known regarding the symbiotic response to predicted climate change. To address this knowledge gap, I analyzed tall fescue variety trial data collected throughout the U.S., exploring relationships between climate variables and yield for two different fescue cultivars that were either endophyte-free or infected. This study showed no endophyte or cultivar effect on fescue yield, but identified temperature, precipitation and location as significant predictors of …

Selective Utilization Of Microhabitats By Web-Building Spiders, Kelton D. Welch

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Natural enemies are members of complex ecological communities, and their ability to contribute to the biological control of pest organisms is strongly influenced by a convoluted network of ecological interactions with many other organisms within these communities. Researchers must develop an understanding of the mechanisms that shape trophic webs to predict and promote top-down effects of predators. The behavior of predators can have a strong influence on their potential as biological control agents.

Web-building spiders are a useful example organism for the study of natural enemy behavior because of the experimentally tractable nature of their foraging behavior. Specifically, patterns in …

Axolotl Paedomorphosis: A Comparison Of Juvenile, Metamorphic, And Paedomorphic Ambystoma Mexicanum Brain Gene Transcription, Carlena Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Unlike many amphibians, the paedomorphic axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) rarely undergoes external morphological changes indicative of metamorphosis. However, internally, some axolotl tissues undergo cryptic metamorphic changes. A previous study examined interspecific patterns of larval brain gene expression and found that these species exhibited unique temporal expression patterns that were hypothesized to be morph specific. This thesis tested this hypothesis by examining differences in brain gene expression between juvenile (JUV), paedomorphic (PAED), and metamorphic (MET) axolotls. I identified 828 genes that were expressed differently between JUV, PAED, and MET. Expression estimates from JUV were compared to estimates from PAED and …

The Causes And Consequences Of Individual Variation In Parental Care Behavior, Daniel P. Wetzel

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Behavioral traits can be remarkably flexible depending on the conditions in which they are expressed, yet, in spite of this flexibility, persistent differences between individuals appear to limit the potential expression of behaviors. For example, despite evidence that parents provide variable amounts of parental care in response to changing environmental conditions, they also differ in the overall level of care they provide. I used a behavioral reaction norm approach to study individual variation in parental care behavior in free-living house sparrows (Passer domesticus). I investigated the nature of this variation by studying the relationship between different forms of …

Factors Influencing The Establishment And Survival Of Native Hardwood Tree Seedlings Of The Kentucky Inner Bluegrass Blue Ash-Oak Savanna-Woodland, James D. Shaffer

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Historically, the Kentucky Inner Bluegrass blue ash-oak savanna-woodland was the primary ecosystem of the Inner Bluegrass Region (IBR) of Kentucky. After European settlement, the majority (>99%) of Bluegrass savanna was converted to agricultural and urban land uses. Currently remnant savanna tree species are failing to recruit. Therefore, a long-term restoration ecology project researching competition and disturbance on seedling establishment, survival, and growth has been established at Griffith Woods (the largest remaining savanna in Kentucky) in Harrison Co., KY. Fourteen native hardwood tree species (a total of 6,168 seedlings) have been experimentally planted. Light, soil, surrounding vegetation, and herbivory, factors …