Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

How Do Prey Refuges Affect Predator-Prey Interactions?, Justin Vendettuoli

Senior Honors Projects

While it is well known that predators eat their prey, prey that avoid predation risk can also incur substantial fitness costs through risk-induced changes in survival and reproduction, growth, and morphology. Changes in prey that occur without the predator physically consuming the prey are referred to as ‘non-consumptive effects’. One way to reduce the risk of predation is to use a refuge. While refuge use may reduce predation risk, however, it may also be costly to the prey. These costs may include within-refuge competition for resources, which can alter prey population dynamics, coexistence, and metapopulation dynamics. While these costs may ...

Parasitoid Infestation Changes Female Mating Preferences, Oliver M. Beckers, William E. Wagner

Faculty Publications in the Biological Sciences

Females often adjust their mating preference to environmental and social conditions. This plasticity of preference can be adaptive for females and can have important consequences for the evolution of male traits. While predation and parasitism are widespread, their effects on female preferences have rarely been investigated. Females of the cricket Gryllus lineaticeps are parasitized by the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea. Infestation with fly larvae substantially reduces female life span and thus reproductive opportunities of the cricket. Both female G. lineaticeps and flies orient to male song and both prefer male songs with faster chirp rates to songs with slower chirp ...

Is Your Immunity Compromised By Being Nice To Your Bacteria? Insights From A Social Amoeba, William E. Callison

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Eukaryotes are dependent on beneficial microbes, but can be killed by harmful ones. How have they evolved responses that protect themselves from harmful bacteria while coddling the beneficial ones? An ideal system for investigating this relationship is the eukaryote social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum because some clones carry commensal bacteria through the social state to use as future seed corn, while others do not. Most of its life, D. discoideum amoeba consume bacteria and divide by binary fission. Under starvation, amoebae aggregate into a multicellular body which crawls to light, then forms a fruiting body of 20% dead stalk cells and ...

Spontaneous Male Death And Monogyny In The Dark Fishing Spider Dolomedes Tenebrosus Hentz, 1843 (Araneae, Pisauridae), Steven K. Schwartz

Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences

Male animals typically attempt to mate with multiple females in order to increase their reproductive success. In some species, however, males instead invest in fertilizing the eggs of a single female. Monogyny (male monogamy) is found in a diverse assemblage of taxa, and recent theoretical work reveals that a male-biased sex ratio can favor the evolution of this relatively rare mating system. We integrate this theoretical framework with field observations and laboratory experiments involving the sexually size dimorphic fishing spider, Dolomedes tenebrosus. Results from mating trials revealed a novel form of self-sacrifice behavior where males spontaneously die when they copulate ...

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 ...

The Role Of Olfactory Cues In The Sequential Radiation Of A Gall-Boring Beetle, Mordellistena Convicta, Bradley Rhodes, Catherine Blair, Mizuki Takahashi, Warren G. Abrahamson Ii

Faculty Journal Articles

1. Herbivorous insects often have close associations with specific host plants, and their preferences for mating and ovipositing on a specific host-plant species can reproductively isolate populations, facilitating ecological speciation. Volatile emissions from host plants can play a major role in assisting herbivores to locate their natal host plants and thus facilitate assortative mating and host-specific oviposition.

2. The present study investigated the role of host-plant volatiles in host fidelity and oviposition preference of the gall-boring, inquiline beetle, Mordellistena convicta LeConte (Coleoptera: Mordellidae), using Y-tube olfactometers. Previous studies suggest that the gall-boring beetle is undergoing sequential host-associated divergence by utilising ...

Factors Affecting Courtship Success And Behavior Of A Temperate Reef Fish, Brachyistius Frenatus, Jesse S. Tootell, Mark A. Steele Dr.

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

Size can play an important role in determining reproductive success through the establishment of dominance hierarchies and mate selection. We explored the relationship between size of individuals and courtship success in the kelp perch, Brachyistius frenatus, off the coast of southern California at Santa Catalina Island. Courtship displays were timed and the length of the interaction was used as a proxy for courtship success. In addition, we observed how much of their time individuals spent performing different activities throughout the day in two adjacent habitats dominated by different macroalgae. We found that body size played a significant role in determining ...

Translocation, Homing Behavior And Habitat Use Of Groundfishes Associated With Oil Platforms In The East Santa Barbara Channel, California, Kim M. Anthony, Milton S. Love, Christopher G. Lowe

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

All offshore oil and gas platforms have finite economic life spans. One of the decommissioning options for these platforms is complete removal, requiring the use of explosives to dislodge the support structure from below the seafloor. Off California, this decommissioning option would kill large numbers of platform-associated and commercially important groundfishes that inhabit the bases of the platforms, and may potentially affect regional fish populations. Capturing and translocating fishes before removing a platform might mitigate the effects of platform removal. In this study, we acoustically tagged 79 rockfishes and lingcod from three oil platforms in the east Santa Barbara Channel ...

The Problem Of Too Many Statistical Tests: Subgroup Analyses In A Study Comparing The Effectiveness Of Online And Live Lectures, David M. Lane

Numeracy

The more statistical analyses performed in the analysis of research data, the more likely it is that one or more of the conclusions will be in error. Multiple statistical analyses can occur when the sample contains several subgroups and the researchers perform separate analyses for each subgroup. For example, separate analyses may be done for different ethnic groups, different levels of education, and/or for both genders. Media reports of research frequently omit information on the number of subgroup analyses performed thus leaving the reader with insufficient information to assess the validity of the conclusions. This article discusses the problems ...

Phototactic Behaviour Of Subterranean Copionodontinae Pinna, 1992 Catfishes (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae) From Chapada Diamantina, Central Bahia, Northeastern Brazil, Bianca Rantin, Maria Elina Bichuette

International Journal of Speleology

The phototactic behaviour of three Copionodontinae (Trichomycteridae) catfish species (two troglobites and one epigean) from Chapada Diamantina was studied in order to detect modifications related to isolation in the subterranean environment. Differences in response under different luminosities were detected and, unlike other cavefish, Copionodontinae cave species have shown to be more photophobic than the epigean syntopic to them. The troglobitic Glaphyropoma spinosum is the most photophobic, presenting this behaviour under all light intensities, and more homogeneous regarding morphological characters. It suggests that this population is probably isolated for a longer time in the subterranean environment compared to Copionodon sp. n ...

Occurrence Of The Barnacle (Xenobalanus Globicipitis) On Coastal And Offshore Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) In Santa Monica Bay And Adjacent Areas, California, Maddalena Bearzi, Katalin Patonai

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

Occurrence and distribution of pseudostalked barnacle (Xenobalanus globicipitis) on bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) were assessed during a 1997– 2007 study in Santa Monica Bay and nearby areas, California. During 425 surveys, 647 individuals were observed to assess presence and prevalence of barnacles; 92 barnacles on 56 individual (8.66%) were observed. On average, one barnacle was found on individuals, usually on top of dorsal fins (97.83%). No significant difference between barnacles’ numbers on coastal versus offshore sightings was recorded. A significant difference on their occurrence on dolphins was recorded between seasons and years. Barnacles affect a small portion of ...

Notes On The Breeding Biology Of The White-Throated Swift In Southern California, Charles T. Collins

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

Reproductive activities of White-throated Swifts (Aeronautes saxatalis) were examined from 1997 to 2006 at two nest sites in a human-made structure in southern California. The start of egg-laying was from 27 April to 30 May and hatching of the first chick ranged from 21 May to 23 June; all chicks had fledged by late July, 42–43 days after hatching. The annual molt of adults began in early June and broadly overlapped with the chick-rearing period. Year to year adult survival was minimally 73.9% and nesting pairs showed strong mate and nest site fidelity; pairs reused nests up to ...

Stopover Decisions Of Migratory Shorebirds: An Assessment Of Habitat Use, Food Availability, Behavior And Phenology, Ryan Stutzman

Dissertations & Theses in Natural Resources

Habitat loss and alteration from land use change, species invasion, and more recently, climate change has reduced biodiversity and ecosystem function worldwide. Habitat decisions have important implications to individual fitness as well as population dynamics and community structure. Resource limitation, predation, competition, and unfavorable abiotic conditions all have the potential to influence survival and future reproductive potential. Understanding how changes to ecosystem structure and function impact species and populations of conservation concern is essential for conservation delivery to be effective. Similar to many migratory species, shorebird populations are declining worldwide and declines may be related to the loss of important ...

Reproduction In Cope’S Leopard Lizard, Gambelia Copeii (Squamata: Crotaphytidae), Stephen R. Goldberg, Clark R. Mahrdt, Kent R. Beaman

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

No abstract provided.

Morphological And Anatomical Characteristics Of Blackbrush (Coleogyne Ramosissima Torr.) Leaves: A Review Of Literature, Simon Lei

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

Leaves of blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima Torr.) shrubs share a number characteristics of leaves of both xerophytic and sclerophyllous shrubs. Despite some leaf surface (morphological) and anatomical similarities with typical xerophytic leaves, blackbrush leaves are more similar to typical semi-arid coastal chaparral plants in Mediterranean and southern California, or cool and high elevation inland desert perennial plants. Semi-deciduous, thick blades, well-cutinized epidermises, numerous small leaves, sclerophyllic leaves, hypostomatry, sunken stomata, thickened epidermal cell walls, and abundant abaxial and adaxial trichomes are characteristics of blackbrush plants, as well as typical woody xerophytic and sclerophyllous plants. Blackbrush also exhibit summer dormancy, with characteristics ...

Cetacean Ecology For Santa Monica Bay And Nearby Areas, California In The Context Of The Newly Established Mpas, Maddalena Bearzi, Charles A. Saylan

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

Data on cetacean ecology are important for monitoring animals and developing conservation and management strategies in a specific area, and are crucial in the decision making process during the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs). Cetacean occurrence, distribution and behavior were investigated in Santa Monica Bay, California (1997-2007). A total of 425 boat-based surveys documented three species inhabiting the bay year-round - the common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, the long-beaked common dolphin, Delphinus capensis, and the short-beaked common dolphin, D. delphis - and ten species occurring occasionally. Coastal bottlenose dolphins were mostly found traveling, diving and feeding in waters within 0.5km ...

Comments On Microhabitat Specialization And A Depth Range Extension For A Chaenopsid Tube Blenny In The Gulf Of California, Mexico, Grantly R. Galland

Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Invasive Plants On Resource Selection And Thermoregulation By The Northern Copperhead (Agkistrodon Contortrix Mokasen), Evin T. Carter

Master's Theses

Conservation management for any wildlife species relies on an understanding of habitat use and spatial patterns with an increasing need to identify the anthropogenic factors affecting populations (Sanderson et al., 2002). In order to understand those anthropogenic factors, it is generally necessary to first gain an understanding of the basic resource use patterns exhibited by the population(s) of interest. The Northern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen) is a medium sized North American pitviper (Family Crotalidae) occurring throughout most of the eastern United States. Populations are thought to be stable throughout the majority of its range, but it holds protected status ...

Foraging Challenges: Unsuitable Prey And Limited Information, Travis M. Hinkelman

Dissertations and Theses in Biological Sciences

Food acquisition is a complicated task. The profitability of potential food items depends on numerous factors, including the spatial distribution, probability of detection and capture, and suitability of the food. Animals faced with such challenges can use relatively simple mechanisms to maximize foraging efficiency. However, mechanisms that maximize foraging efficiency under some ecological conditions (e.g., prey scarcity) may produce ostensibly suboptimal behavior under different ecological conditions (e.g., prey abundance). In the work presented here, we explore two facets of foraging: (1) consuming unsuitable prey, and (2) searching for resources with limited information about resource location. To explore the ...

The Spatial Games: Investigating The Spatial Distribution Of Anax And Select Prey As A Function Of Predator-Prey Interactions, Shane Elizabeth Johnson, Nene Kumashe Ugbah

Biological Sciences

Our study investigated the spatial distribution and movement behavior of predatory dragonfly larvae (Anax) and of two prey types: mosquito larvae and amphipods. Predator-prey interactions have important consequences for the population dynamics of both predator and prey groups and these interactions can shape community structure. We measured behavior of each prey type in the presence of the Anax predator and the behavior of the predator in the presence of these alternative prey types. Observations were made in five-gallon aquaria where a grid pattern allowed us to track the number of moves made by individuals. We compiled data from ten, one ...