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Harvest Strategy Policy And Operational Guidelines For The Aquatic Resources Of Western Australia, Western Australia. Dept. Of Fisheries

Fisheries Management Papers

Harvest strategies establish the decision rules that determine the appropriate harvest levels for all sectors to meet the ecological, economic and social objectives established for a resource. The development and implementation of formal harvest strategies is considered sound practice in contemporary fisheries management. A number of recent legislative (new Aquatic Resources Management Act, ARMA) and policy (Marine Stewardship Council, MSC) initiatives require the development of formal harvest strategies for the key aquatic resources in Western Australia (WA).

West Coast Deep Sea Crustacean Resources Harvest Strategy, 2015-2020 : Version 1.0 : West Coast Deep Sea Crustacean Managed Fishery, Western Australia. Dept. Of Fisheries

Fisheries Management Papers

No abstract provided.

West Coast Deep Sea Crustacean Resources Harvest Strategy : 2015 – 2020 : Version 1.0 : West Coast Deep Sea Crustacean Managed Fishery, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Management Papers

No abstract provided.

Harvest Strategy Policy And Operational Guidelines For The Aquatic Resources Of Western Australia, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Fisheries Management Papers

No abstract provided.

Time-Frequency Analysis Reveals Pairwise Interactions In Insect Swarms, James G. Puckett, Rui Ni, Nicholas T. Ouellette

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The macroscopic emergent behavior of social animal groups is a classic example of dynamical self-organization, and is thought to arise from the local interactions between individuals. Determining these interactions from empirical data sets of real animal groups, however, is challenging. Using multicamera imaging and tracking, we studied the motion of individual flying midges in laboratory mating swarms. By performing a time-frequency analysis of the midge trajectories, we show that the midge behavior can be segmented into two distinct modes: one that is independent and composed of low-frequency maneuvers, and one that consists of higher-frequency nearly harmonic oscillations conducted in synchrony …

Book Review [Of At Home And At Large In The Great Plains: Essays And Memories], Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

Nebraska birders may remember reading some of the 14 essays published in this book, since they appeared previously in Prairie Fire, the monthly Great Plains public policy newspaper. Topics of the short and engaging essays range from changing bird life to outstanding birding areas to conservation in the Great Plains. We read about sediment deposits, the “gifts of glaciers past,” which were left by retreating rivers of ice thousands of years ago and resulted in the creation of the prairie potholes so important now to our waterfowl and wading birds. One essay marvels at the variety of animal skeletons, including …

Activity Of The Porcine Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor Gene Promoter Is Partially Conferred By A Distal Gonadotrope Specific Element (Gse) Within An Upstream Enhancing Region, Two Proximal Gses And A Retinoid X Receptor Binding Site, Rebecca Cederberg, Jacqueline Smith, Emily A. Mcdonald, Chanho Lee, Amy R. Perkins, Brett R. White

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Background: Regulation of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor (GnRHR) numbers on gonadotropes within the anterior pituitary gland represents a critical point for control of reproductive function. Binding of GnRH to its receptor regulates follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) release and levels of this G-protein coupled receptor on the surface of gonadotropes determines their sensitivity to GnRH pulses. While transcriptional regulation of this gene has been studied in mice, rats, humans and sheep, little is known about its regulation in the pig, an important agricultural species and human research model.

Methods: We isolated 5118 bp of 5′ flanking …

The Characterization Of A Vital Wisconsin Waterway: A Biological Assessment Of The Lower Fox River From 2006-2014, Emily L. Kiehnau

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The Lower Fox River has historically been used as a navigational crossroads, a waste disposal system, and source of hydroelectric power. Over the years, heavy use of the river has negatively affected water quality and the overall health of the system. Unhealthy rivers cannot function properly. Biological assessment based on animal surveys are often used to determine river health. I used data from the Lawrence University and Fox River Navigational System Authority invasive species-monitoring project to explore how the distribution of animals in the Fox River has changed over time and across locations. Monitoring surveys have taken place between June …

Mate Replacement And Alloparental Care In Ferruginous Hawk, Shubham Datta, Will M. Inselman, Jonathan A. Jenks, Kent Jensen, Christopher C. Swanson, Robert W. Klaver, Indrani Sasmal, Troy W. Grovenburg

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Alloparental care (i.e., care for unrelated offspring) has been documented in various avian species (Maxson 1978, Smith et al. 1996, Tella et al. 1997, Lislevand et al. 2001, Literak and Mraz 2011). A male replacement mate that encounters existing broods has options, which include alloparental care or infanticide. Infanticide may be beneficial in some species (Rohwer 1986, Kermott et al. 1990), but in long-lived avian species, like the ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) that do not renest within a season, infanticide might be detrimental. Adoption and rearing success likely provide direct evidence of competence of replacement mates as potential parents for …

Estimating Pinyon And Juniper Cover Across Utah Using Naip Imagery, Darrell B. Roundy

Theses and Dissertations

Expansion of Pinus L. (pinyon) and Juniperus L. (juniper) (P-J) trees into sagebrush (Artemisia L.) steppe communities can lead to negative effects on hydrology, loss of wildlife habitat, and a decrease in desirable understory vegetation. Tree reduction treatments are often implemented to mitigate these negative effects. In order to prioritize and effectively plan these treatments, rapid, accurate, and inexpensive methods are needed to estimate tree canopy cover at the landscape scale. We used object based image analysis (OBIA) software (Feature AnalystTM for ArcMap 10.1®, ENVI Feature Extraction®, and Trimble eCognition Developer 8.2®) to extract tree canopy cover using NAIP (National …

A Prototype On-Line Aotf Hyperspectral Image Acquisition System For Tenderness Assessment Of Beef Carcasses, Govindarajan Konda Naganathan, Kim Cluff, Ashok Samal, Chris Calkins, David D. Jones, Carol Lorenzen, Jeyamkondan Subbiah

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

A prototype on-line acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF)-based hyperspectral image acquisition system (λ = 450– 900 nm) was developed for tenderness assessment of beef carcasses. Hyperspectral images of ribeye muscle on stationary hanging beef carcasses (n = 338) at 2-day postmortem were acquired in commercial beef slaughter or packing plants. After image acquisition, a strip steak was cut from each carcass, vacuum packaged, aged for 14 days, cooked, and slice shear force tenderness scores were collected by an independent lab. Beef hyperspectral images were mosaicked together and principal component (PC) analysis was conducted to reduce the spectral dimension. Six different textural …

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: The Analysis Of The Specter Cell Cycle Mutant In Zebrafish, Tetiana Petrachkova

Masters Theses

Cell division is controlled by genes that regulate the cell cycle. Here we show that the zebrafish specter (spr) mutant is mutation in the cyclin B1 gene, a gene necessary for the G2 to M transition of the cell cycle.

The spr mutation mapped to the cyclin B1 gene. Sequencing showed a transition (C139→T) that caused a nonsense mutation in exon 2 of the cyclin B1 gene. In situ hybridization of cyclin B1 revealed that the mRNA is absent in the mutant embryo by gastrulation. We found that the earliest visible mutant phenotype was a darkening of the head caused …

Human Disturbance And The Physiological Response Of Elk In Eastern Washington, D. S. Jachowski, S. Mccorquodale, Brian E. Washburn, Joshua J. Millspaugh

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Stress hormone measures have proven useful for assessing effects of human disturbance on wildlife populations. However, most studies are of short duration or limited geographic scope (i.e., without spatial replication), leading to concerns about confounding effects of biotic conditions. Previous research correlated fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) of elk (Cervus elaphus) with human disturbance, but this factor also co-varied with seasonal climatic conditions, making it difficult to make broader inference regarding the role of human disturbance. In this study we attempted to simultaneously evaluate the effects of climatic conditions and human disturbance by comparing the year-round physiological stress response …

Size-, Side- And Site-Related Predation Of Naticid Gastropods On Dwarf Surf Clams (Mulinia Lateralis) And Incongruous Ark Clams (Anadara Brasiliana) On The Atlantic Coast, Erica Valdez, Danielle N. Araiza

DePaul Discoveries

Naticid gastropods are common predatory mollusks in marine systems where they feed on bivalve mollusks. Predation involves boring a hole through the shell of the prey, which provides the opportunity for beach collections of shells to be used to determine feeding preferences of predators in nature. We examined whether naticids exhibited preferences for prey size, valve side (left vs. right) and valve site (location on the shell) and whether these preferences differed between prey species (Mulinia lateralis, dwarf surf clam; Anadara brasiliana, incongruous ark clam). Random samples of A.brasiliana and M.lateralis were collected from Otter Island, …

Phylogeography Of Southeast Asian Flying Foxes (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae: Pteropus), Susan Man Shu Tsang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Flying foxes (Pteropus) are a genus of Old World fruit bats that are important seed dispersers and pollinators for plants native to the 200,000+ islands in Southeast Asia, yet they are some of the most poorly known bats in the world. They comprise some of the largest known bat species, and are morphologically relatively conserved on the genus level. Pteropus is the most species-rich genus within Pteropodidae, though the origin for this diversity remains incompletely understood. In Chapter 1, I discuss the importance of Pteropus to the ecosystem and as reservoir hosts. In Chapter 2, a molecular phylogeny is presented …

Using 3d Printed Eggs To Examine The Egg-Rejection Behaviour Of Wild Birds, Branislav Igic, Valerie Nunez, Henning U. Voss, Rebecca Croston, Zachary Aidala, Analía V. López, Aimee Van Tatenhove, Mandë E. Holford, Matthew D. Shawkey, Mark E. Hauber

Publications and Research

The coevolutionary relationships between brood parasites and their hosts are often studied by examining the egg rejection behaviour of host species using artificial eggs. However, the traditional methods for producing artificial eggs out of plasticine, plastic, wood, or plaster-of-Paris are laborious, imprecise, and prone to human error. As an alternative, 3D printing may reduce human error, enable more precise manipulation of egg size and shape, and provide a more accurate and replicable protocol for generating artificial stimuli than traditional methods. However, the usefulness of 3D printing technology for egg rejection research remains to be tested. Here, we applied 3D printing …

How Access To Plant & Animal Books Affects Participation In Conservation Activities, Dustin Ingram, Hassnaa Ingram

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Public libraries are an important resource for communities. Access to plant and animal books impacts a communities’ ability to learn about their environment. In this study, the number of plant and animal books available to people through local libraries in northern Kentucky, and neighboring counties in Ohio and Indiana were counted and a survey assessing one’s preferences and likeliness to participate in conservation activities was distributed to local residents. Based on the collected data, a statistically significant relationship (p < 0.05) was found between access to plant and animal books available at local libraries and the likelihood of people to participate in conservation activities. Further analysis was performed between the total number of shelved plant and animal books at local libraries, the total number of shelved juvenile plant and animal books and the shelved adult plant and animal books, and the total number of plant and animal books in libraries compared to the local household income and number of households near a library. This study found that people that read books about plants and animals were more likely to participate in conservation activities associated with their book preference. This study also found that people living in low-income communities with fewer households are less likely to participate in plant and animal conservation, as compared to higher-income communities with a higher number of households. Additionally, this study found that lower income areas have fewer plant and animal books on the library shelves than higher income areas. Consequently, study results suggest that if more plant and animal books were made available to low-income areas and areas of biological importance through libraries, people may be more likely to conserve the wildlife around them.

The Suitability Of Habitats And The Effects Of Human Activities In Osupuko And Olepolos Wildlife Sanctuaries On Maasai Giraffes, Sydney P. Davis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Habitat quality and resource availability within wildlife dispersal areas in the Amboseli ecosystem are experiencing degradation due to pastoralism and agriculture by humans, which negatively affects the wildlife species that utilize these dispersal areas. Maasai giraffes are a common species that utilize these areas, but information on how human activities and the presence of domestic livestock affects the Maasai giraffe is limited. This study was conducted in two wildlife sanctuaries: Osupuko and Olepolos. Habitat condition assessment was done to determine the quality of habitats found within each sanctuary. The Point-Centered Quadrat Method was used to determine the number of five …

Background Paper On Systematics, Invasive Species Advisory Committee

National Invasive Species Council

The Invasive Species Advisory Committee (ISAC) makes recommendations to the Federal government agencies that have an invasive species portfolio. This systematics recommendation strives to motivate action in the agencies that have been identified in the Situation Report as the agencies with systematics capabilities in the Federal government.

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Smithsonian Institution are repositories of a large amount of the systematics collections and human capabilities for systematics essential work on invasive species. Conducting the Survey of their systematics capabilities and needs is urgent. The Survey will describe actions in research, specimen-based collections, a biodiversity informatics …

Collective Movement In The Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana): Early Joiners Write The Rule Of The Game, Xi Wang, Lixing Sun, Jinhua Li, Dongpo Xia, Binghua Sun, Dao Zhang

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Collective behavior has recently attracted a great deal of interest in both natural and social sciences. While the role of leadership has been closely scrutinized, the rules used by joiners in collective decision making have received far less attention. Two main hypotheses have been proposed concerning these rules: mimetism and quorum. Mimetism predicts that individuals are increasingly likely to join collective behavior as the number of participants increases. It can be further divided into selective mimetism, where relationships among the participants affect the process, and anonymous mimetism, where no such effect exists. Quorum predicts that a collective behavior occurs when …

Nsf Grant Helps Preserve Parasite Collections [Press Release], Scott Gardner, Leslie Reed

Scott L. Gardner Publications

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant that will allow four major parasite collections to be digitized. The collections are part of UNL's Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology. Scott Gardner (pictured) is the curator and director of the Manter Laboratory.

A $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will allow the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology to digitally preserve four major collections of parasite specimens donated to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during the past five years.

Characterization And Transplantation Of Felid Spermatogonial Stem Cells, Robin H. Powell

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSC) self-renew and differentiate into spermatozoa throughout the life of the male. SSC transplantation is a potential method for the propagation of genetically important males. These cells have been isolated in different mammalian species using specific cell surface markers, but not in felines.

The goal of this study was to explore a relevant strategy for conservation of endangered felids by characterizing domestic cat (Felis catus) SSCs and assessing their ability for self-renewal after transplantation. Firstly, SSC and pluripotent surface markers, identified in non-feline species, were tested for expression in mixed germ cells from adults by …

Analysis Of Seed Preference Trials Of Red Veld Rats And Smith's Bush Squirrels And Trap Effectiveness In The Lowveld Of South Africa, Brooke A. Barber

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Large tree species in South Africa face reproductive decline, especially older trees that provide ecosystem connectivity. Management of Balule Nature Reserve, an extensive private nature reserve in South Africa, wanted to investigate the roles rodents play in the recruitment and survival of select tree species. Two large tree species of concern, marula (Sclerocarya birrea) and knobthorn acacia (Acacia nigrescens) are dominant, habitat providers and red bushwillow (Combretum apiculatum) is a smaller and more common, prolific seed producer. I investigated whether rodents, specifically red veld rats and Smith’s bush squirrels, may play a detrimental role …

Seed Preference Trials Of Namaqua Rock Mice And Rodent Density In The Lowveld Savanna Of South Africa, Whitney L. Walker

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Large trees important in the South African savanna are in decline. Initially, climate change and elephants were thought to be the cause. However, all reasons for the decline are unknown. I investigated how Namaqua rock mice potentially affect recruitment of tree seedlings through seed predation in South Africa. I used live traps to capture rodents during the dry season of June-August on Balule Nature Reserve (BNR). I exposed the mice to seed preference trials in enclosures to determine if they would eat seeds of three target tree species; marula (Sclerocarya birrea), knobthorn acacia (Acacia nigrescens), and …

Dietary Overlap Of Native White Bass And Introduced Yellow Bass In Barren River, Micaela L. Montgomery

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In the Barren River Lake of south central Kentucky, native white bass, Morone chrysops, has experienced a decline in population after the introduction of yellow bass, Morone mississippiensis. These species are competing for resources due to an overlapping diet, likely contributing to the decline of the white bass. To explore this hypothesis, I examined the stomach contents and otoliths of white and yellow bass caught during their spawning time in spring 2012. There were 40 yellow bass and 128 white bass collected in Barren River upstream of Barren River Lake. Analysis of stomach contents revealed that both white and …

The Effects Of Phytochemical Tannin-Containing Diets On Animal Performance And Internal Parasite Control In Meat Goats, Chassity Wright

College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The Effects of Phytochemical Tannin-Containing Diets on Animal Performance and Internal Parasite Control in Meat Goats

By

Chassity Wright

Haemonchus contortus (H. contortus) resistance has been reported against almost all chemical anthelmintics available for its control. H. contortus has a remarkable ability to develop resistance and threatens the viability of the goat industry in many regions of the world. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand the genetic mechanisms underlying anthelmintic resistance and to discover new alternative methods of chemical and non-chemical control. With chemical anthemintics failing, this has led to the evaluation of plants as a natural …

Comparing Pseudo-Environmental And Horizontal Plus Pseudo-Environmental Transmission Of A Probiotic Janithinobacterium Lividum Between Green Frog Tadpoles, Stephen Simonetti

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The gram-negative bacteria, Janthinobacterium lividum (J.liv) is able to kill the pathogenic fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which is known to be causing massive amphibian decline worldwide. The purpose of this research was to identify the ability of the probiotic bacteria, Janthinobacterium lividum (J.liv), to be horizontally transmitted from individual to individual and/or pseudo-environmentally transmitted from individual to environment and back to individual between Lithobates clamitans (green frog) tadpoles. Based on previous findings I hypothesized that pseudo-environmental and horizontal transmission will occur in tadpoles. This would be important for helping stop the decline of amphibians because it would provide …

Distributional Expansion Of The Hispid Cotton Rat (Sigmodon Hispidus) Into Dawson County, Nebraska, Jennifer D. Frisch, Keith Geluso, Joseph T. Springer

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

In the last century, the Hispid Cotton Rat (Sigmodon hispidus) has moved northward in central parts of the United States, reaching Nebraska in the late 1950s. Recent surveys demonstrate Hispid Cotton Rats inhabit counties across southern parts of Nebraska south of the Platte River. Herein, we report on captures of S. hispidus from a new county (Dawson County), its seasonal occurrence at our study site, and the first known record of the Hispid Cotton Rat north of channels of the Platte River. Our captures represent one of the northern-most records in Nebraska.

Molecular Tools To Support Metabolic And Immune Function Research In The Guinea Fowl (Numida Meleagris), Carl E. Darris, James E. Tyus Ii, Gary Kelley, Alexander J. Ropelewski, Hugh B. Nicholas Jr., Xiaofei Wang, Samuel N. Nahashon

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Background

Guinea fowl (Numidia meleagris) production as an alternative source of meat and poultry has shown potential for economic viability. However, there has been little progress in characterizing the transcriptome of the guinea fowl. In this study RNA-sequencing and de novo transcriptome assembly of several Guinea fowl tissues (pancreas, hypothalamus, liver, bone marrow and bursa) which play key roles in regulating feed intake, satiety, and immune function was performed using Illumina’s Hi-Seq 2000.

Results

74 million sequences were generated and assembled into 96,492 contigs using the Trinity software suite. Over 39,000 of these transcripts were found to have …

Trypanosoma Cruzi Prevalence In The Domestic Canine Population In Central And Eastern Kentucky, Katelyn Cox

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Domestic canines are regarded as natural sentinelsfor the transmission of vector-borne pathogens since infection in an owner’s dog suggests the presence of the vector in or around the household. In collaboration with the University of Kentucky’s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in Lexington, Kentucky, we have investigated the prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi (the causative agent of Chagas disease) in canines from central and eastern Kentucky via a serological test, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and DNA sequencing. In addition, Canine SNAP 4Dx plus tests (Idexx Laboratories, Inc.) were used to determine the prevalence of four other vector-borne pathogens: Ehrlichia canis/ewingii, Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma …