Physiology Commons^™

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Caitlyn Aldersea, Justin Bravo, Sam Allen, Anna Block, Connor Block, Emma Buechler, Maria De Los Angeles Bustillos, Arianna Carlson, William Christensen, Olivia Kachulis, Noah Craver, Kate Dillon, Muskan Fatima, Angel Fernandes, Emma Finch, Colleen Cassidy, Amy Fishman, Andrea Francis, Stacia Fritz, Simran Gill, Emma Gries, Rylie Hansen, Shannon Powers, Jacqueline Martinez, Zachary Harker, Ashley Hasty, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Kathleen Hopps, Adelaide Kerenick, Colin Kleckner, Ci Koehring, Elijah Kruger, Braden Krumholz, Maddie Leake, Lyneé Alves, Seraphina Loukas, Yatzari Lozano Vazquez, Haley Maki, Emily Martinez, Sierra Mckinney, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Audrey Mitchell, Kipling Newman, Audrey Ng, Megan Lucyshyn, Andrew Nguyen, Stevie Ostman, Casandra Pearson, Alexandra Penney, Julia Gielczynski, Tyler Ball, Anna Rini, Christina Rorres, Simon Ruland, Helayna Schafer, Emma Sellers, Sarah Schuller, Claire Shaver, Kevin Summers, Isabella Shaw, Madison Sinar, Claudia Pena, Apshara Siwakoti, Carter Sorensen, Madi Sousa, Anna Sparling, Alexandra Revier, Brandon Thierry, Dylan Tyree, Maggie Williams, Lauren Wols

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

Plant Sentience: The Burden Of Proof, Jon Mallatt, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz

Animal Sentience

Segundo-Ortin & Calvo’s (2023) target article takes a less speculative and more evidence-based approach to plant sentience than did previous works promoting that idea. However, it retains many of the idea’s longstanding difficulties such as starting from a false dichotomy (plants must be either hardwired or sentient), not accepting the full burden of proof for an extraordinary claim, confusingly redefining accepted cognitive terms, implying cell consciousness, not adopting the most parsimonious explanations for plant behaviors, and downplaying all the counterevidence. We advise rectifying these problems before plant sentience can become a full-fledged scientific domain.

Plants Lack The Functional Neurotransmitters And Signaling Pathways Required For Sentience In Animals, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz, Jon Mallatt

Animal Sentience

We cannot agree with Segundo-Ortin and Calvo that plants are sentient organisms. We have critically examined several aspects of their target article, and find their claims are not supported by the published evidence. We address these claims in sections on whether plants have a ‘neurobiology’ analogous to that of animal nervous systems, including neurotransmitters and synaptic receptors that respond to anesthetics; and whether plant signaling resembles neural transmission. For the latter, we especially consider the unique way plants signal their responses to wounding. Although the plant vascular system has been compared to the animal nervous system, animal blood vessels would …

Strong Inferences About Pain In Invertebrates Require Stronger Evidence, Edgar T. Walters

Animal Sentience

Evidence for sentience in animals distantly related to humans is often sought in observations of behavioral and neural responses to noxious stimuli that would be painful in humans. Most proposed criteria for painful sentience in “lower” animals such as decapod crustaceans have no necessary links to the affective (“suffering”) component of pain. The best evidence for painful affect in animals is learned aversion to stimuli associated with noxious experience, and conditioned preference for contexts associated with relief from aversive consequences of noxious experience, as expressed in voluntary behavior. Such evidence is currently lacking for any invertebrate except octopus.

Reproductive Timing Of The Scarlet Shiner (Lythrurus Fasciolaris) In Northern Alabama, Bruce Stallsmith, Toacca Taylor, Chelsie Smith

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The Scarlet Shiner (Lythrurus fasciolaris) is a cyprinid species widely distributed in parts of the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee river drainages of the United States. The objective of this study was to determine the Scarlet Shiner’s reproductive schedule. Maturation of ovaries and oocytes was determined through the categorization of developmental stages from early maturing to ripe, along with the calculation of monthly gonadosomatic index (GSI) measurements over two reproductive seasons in 2012 and 2015. In both years reproductive competence began in April. Average monthly GSI for females peaked in May, followed by a slow decline through August. Average clutch …

Killi-Data News (Winter), Tyrone Genade

Killifish Research Review

Valued readers, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you that this is the last issue of Killi-Data News. The good news is that we will be back as Killifish Research Review. The dissolution of Killi-Data International created a prob- lem: how can the newsletter of a defunct organization live on without that organization? But other additional problems were building in the background. The first issue numbered 15 pages. The previous issue was 28 pages. The number of killifish related papers is increasing while time on our end (the editorial team) is running out. It takes a lot …

Killi-Data News (Fall), Tyrone Genade

Killifish Research Review

Many interesting papers have been published over the last three months. The large volume of papers coupled with the start of the new college semester (and the workload it brings) delayed this issue of Killi-Data News. But better late than never—or so I hope! In this issue Richard van der Laan provides an insightful review of the recent Aphanius papers as to their taxonomic implications and questions. The systematic issues he raises show the importance of the Molecular project: we need to get more samples of the various cyprinodontiforme families to resolve unsettled systematic and taxonomic issues. In the Next …

Killi-Data News (Summer), Tyrone Genade

Killifish Research Review

Over the last three months several interesting and exciting pa- pers have been published. By now most of you have heard the Nothobranchius fish poo news emanating from the Valenzano lab. That paper is reviewed and certainly has repercussions for the health of our captive fish. Polaçik et al have published interesting data with ramifications as to how we breed and incubate annual killifish. The big news in this issue is the paper from the Reznick lab which Jean Huber reviews. The contents of that paper goes to the heart of the question of just what a killifish is. The …

Killi-Data News (Spring), Tyrone Genade

Killifish Research Review

This is the start of Killi-Data News’ second year. In this first issue of the year we have the usual review of research pub- lications as well as input from Martin Reichard on his lab’s Nothobranchius research. Martin is responding to my reviews of his lab’s work in the previous edition. I am serious about making sure the content in this newsletter is reliable but I erred in the previous edition and Martin has written extensively to correct my mistake in the section “Erratum”. This reply is welcomed and owed to readers. I must confess that I don’t know everything …

Killi-Data News (Winter), Tyrone Genade

Killifish Research Review

This is the fourth edition, and concluding issue of the first volume, of Killi-Data News and I am happy that it has been well received by readers. At 25 pages this issue is a bit thin- ner than the last but this is because we agreed to make the cut-off for submissions the 1 st of December so we could get this edition out by the New Year. This is an exciting edition full of new species descrip- tions and analyses that will keep taxonomists busy for years to come. Costa has given us two molecular phylogenies on Melanorivulus as …

Killi-Data News (Spring), Tyrone Genade

Killifish Research Review

This is the start of Killi-Data News’ second year. In this first issue of the year we have the usual review of research pub- lications as well as input from Martin Reichard on his lab’s Nothobranchius research. Martin is responding to my reviews of his lab’s work in the previous edition. I am serious about making sure the content in this newsletter is reliable but I erred in the previous edition and Martin has written extensively to correct my mistake in the section “Erratum”. This reply is welcomed and owed to readers. I must confess that I don’t know everything …

Consequences Of Porcine Zona Pellucida Immunocontraception To Feral Horses, Cassandra M.V. Nuñez

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Porcine zona pellucida (PZP) immunocontraception was developed to provide a more humane, effective, and inexpensive method of population regulation for wildlife species. It has been used to regulate populations of several species including white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), elk (Cervus elaphus ), black bear (Ursus americanus ), and the feral horse (Equus ferus caballus) with varying levels of success. Early studies on Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland, USA, suggested PZP was as an ideal form of fertility control because it reduced the likelihood of conception to

Physiological Ecology Of Four Endemic Alabama Species And The Exotic Asiatic Weatherfish, Misgurnus Anguillicaudatus (Cantor, 1842), Lindsay M. White, Mark E. Meade, Benjamin A. Staton

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The occurrence of Asiatic Weatherfish, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, in Alabama, a state known for its rich biodiversity, has generated concern among conservation managers. The current study used respirometry techniques to investigate the effects of increasing temperature on four native southeastern fishes (one cyprinid, two percids, and one elassomid) and the non-native M. anguillicaudatus. A minimum of five individuals of each species were used, and three experimental temperatures were chosen to represent spring and summer averages of northeast Alabama streams (15, 20, and 25°C). Overall, mean standard metabolic rates (SMRs) for M. anguillicaudatus were low (97.01, 127.75, and 158.50 mg …

Bioaccumulation Of Metallic Trace Elements And Antioxidant Enzyme Activities In Apfelbeckia Insculpta (L. Koch, 1867) (Diplopoda: Callipodida) From The Cave Hadži-Prodanova Pećina (Serbia), Jelena Vranković, Slavica Borković-Mitić, Bojan Ilić, Milanka Radulović, Slaviša Milošević, Slobodan Makarov, Bojan Mitić

International Journal of Speleology

The concentration of 10 metallic trace elements or MTE (Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn, As, Hg, Pb, Cd, Ni, and Cr) was measured in specimens of the troglophilic millipede Apfelbeckia insculpta (L. Koch, 1867) and sediment of the cave Hadži-Prodanova Pećina in western Serbia. Some MTE, like Fe and Mn, displayed much higher concentrations compared to other elements, both in the sediment and in the body of A. insculpta. On the other hand, estimation of the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) in both males and females of A. insculpta showed values greater than 1 for xenobiotic elements compared to those that are essential. …

Anthropomorphic Denial Of Fish Pain, Lynne U. Sneddon, Matthew C. Leach

Animal Sentience

Key (2016) affirms that we do not know how the fish brain processes pain but denies — because fish lack a human-like cortex — that fish can feel pain. He affirms that birds, like fish, have a singly-laminated cortex and that the structure of the bird brain is quite different from that of the human brain, yet he does not deny that birds can feel pain. In this commentary we describe how Key cites studies that substantiate mammalian pain but discounts the same kind of data as evidence of fish pain. We suggest that Key's interpretations are illogical, do not …

Mating Weaners Does Not Affect Future Ewe Performance, R J. Suiter, K. P. Croker

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Maiden ewes in Western Australia are usually mated in their second year because of supposed ill-effects of earlier mating on the ewe's future production. Mating at a younger age however, providing there was no reduction in future performance, would provide for an extra lamb drop and thus increase the lifetime output of ewes.

Information from various sources indicated that weaners could be successfully mated providing their bodyweights were satisfactory. This trial was carried out to test the results of mating weaners under Western Australian conditions.