Digital Commons Network^™

Mycobacterium Bovis (Bovine Tuberculosis) Infection In North American Wildlife: Current Status And Opportunities For Mitigation Of Risks Of Further Infection In Wildlife Populations, Ryan S. Miller, Steven J. Sweeney

Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease: Publications

Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis, has been identified in nine geographically distinct wildlife populations in North America and Hawaii and is endemic in at least three populations, including members of the Bovidae, Cervidae, and Suidae families. The emergence of M. bovis in North American wildlife poses a serious and growing risk for livestock and human health and for the recreational hunting industry. Experience in many countries, including the USA and Canada, has shown that while M. bovis can be controlled when restricted to livestock species, it is almost impossible to eradicate …

Diseases At The Livestock–Wildlife Interface: Status, Challenges, And Opportunities In The United States, Ryan S. Miller, Mathew L. Farnsworth, Jennifer L. Malmberg

Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease: Publications

In the last half century, significant attention has been given to animal diseases; however, our understanding of disease processes and how to manage them at the livestock–wildlife interface remains limited. In this study, we conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature to evaluate the status of diseases at the livestock–wildlife interface in the United States. Specifically, the goals of the literature review were three fold: first to evaluate domestic animal diseases currently found in the United States where wildlife may play a role; second to identify critical issues faced in managing these diseases at the livestock–wildlife interface; and third …

The Junco Called Cassiar, Rick Wright

Nebraska Bird Review

A well-marked male Cassiar Junco is subtly distinctive. In its overall grayness, the bird closely recalls a Slate-colored Junco, but the darkness of the head, breast, and nape approaches that of a male Oregon Junco, creating a more striking contrast between the "hood" and the rest of the upperparts than is visible in any but the very blackest of male Slate-coloreds. More significant than the colors themselves is their distribution: the blackish nape is sharply set off from the grayer or brownish back, and the dark of the breast meets the paler gray of the flank and the white of …

A Survey Of Aquatic Invertebrate Communities In Nebraska Sandhill Lakes Reveals Potential Alternative Ecosystem States, J.C. Jolley, E.S. Albin, M.A. Kaemingk, D.W. Willis

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Aquatic invertebrate communities are important to shallow lake ecosystem form and function, providing vital components to the food web and thereby important to achieving lake management goals. We characterized lake invertebrate communities and physicochemical variables in six Nebraska Sandhill lakes and examined these characteristics within an alternative stable state framework. Surveys were conducted during 2005 within each of these lakes by sampling aquatic macroinvertebrate abundance, zooplankton abundance and biomass, phytoplankton biomass, and physicochemical variables. When placed within an alternative stable state framework, the response variables exhibited a gradient of different ecosystem states. Two lakes appeared congruent with the clear water …

The Effect Of Temperature On Phenotypes Of The Invasive European Green Crab: Physiologic Mechanisms That Facilitate Invasion Success, Amanda Kelley

Dissertations and Theses

Invasion physiology is an emerging field that endeavors to understand the influence of physiological traits on the establishment of non-native species in novel environments. The invasive European green crab,Carcinus maenas, is one of the world's most successful aquatic invaders, and is currently distributed across temperate marine ecosystems globally. The work presented here explored the thermal physiology of this species, and has highlighted several physiological traits that have likely influenced establishment success.

Intraspecific comparisons of crabs sampled from the northern and southern edges of their recipient, or invaded range on the west coast of North America have identified both organismal and …

Validation Of Antibodies Used To Study Hypoxia Inducible Factors In Two Species Of Fundulus, Jenna D. Hill

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors and the master regulators of oxygen-dependent gene expression in animals. The focus of this thesis is the distribution of HIF protein in tissues of the fish Fundulus heteroclitus and F. grandis, two widespread species that occur in naturally hypoxic waters. Polyclonal antibodies against HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and HIF-3α were tested on proteins made in vitro and on extracts made from several tissues of normoxic and hypoxic fish. Antibodies against HIF-1α and 3α bound specifically to full length protein made in vitro, and produced bands on western blots of nuclear extracts of near …

Room To Roam: Using Gps To Determine The Effect Of Exhibit Size And Herd Size On Zoo Elephant Movement, Matthew Holdgate, Deborah A. Duffield, David J. Shepherdson

Student Research Symposium

Asian and African elephants (Elephas maximus and Loxodonta spp.) are particularly susceptible to welfare concerns in zoological institutions due to their high intelligence, complex social structures, and sheer size. Zoo elephants are also limited by the space available to them, and the resulting lack of exercise may contribute to a host of health issues, including obesity and foot disease. Zoos rely largely on changes to the exhibit size and herd size to promote elephant movement, yet the effect of these factors on movement is unknown. Our study used GPS-equipped anklets to track the movement of 80 elephants at 43 zoos …

The Identity Of Rana Margaritifera Laurenti, 1768 (Anura, Bufonidae), Esteban O. Lavilla, Ulisses Caramaschi, José A. Langone, José P. Pombal Jr., Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Rana margaritifera was described by Laurenti in 1768 and currently is associated to the genus Rhinella, under the combination Rhinella margaritifera. Currently, the R. margaritifera species group consists of 16 recognized species. Further-more, many additional species have been suggested to exist in this group which highlights the ambiguity surrounding the identity of Rhinella margaritifera and impend further description of the species in this group. After an exhaustive bibliographic review, we concluded that the recent designation of a lectotype for R. margaritifera is invalid according with Art. 73, ICZN, 1999. Herein, we designate and provide the description of a …

A Study Of The Niche Structure And Habitat Utilization Of Urban Dwelling Winter Birds, Thomas Huff

Honors Theses

A study was conducted to evaluate the distribution of urban birds relative to differences in habitat as determined by zoning type. A total of 1,948 individual birds and a total of 33 species were sampled across the four different zones (industrial, commercial, residential, and public use.) The industrial use zone contained the highest number of individuals whereas commercial zones contained the fewest. However, the four zones contained approximately equal species richness.

Industrial zones supported the greatest number of cavity nesting and seed eating species. Residential and public use zones contained greater numbers of insectivorous and cup nesting species. In the …

Agricultural Research Magazine, May-June 2013

Agricultural Research Magazine

Table of Contents

4 Olives! Scientists Take a New Look at an Ancient Crop

8 Getting Hooked on Farmed Salmon: A Good Source of Omega-3s

10 Nematode-Filled Capsules Tested Against Corn Rootworms

12 Viral Infection in Sheep Linked to Gene

14 Cited for More Than 60 Years of Flavor Research

17 Dogs, Pine Trees, and Carbs: Studies Lead to New Pet- Food Ingredient

18 Nourishing America’s Preemies: Scientists Confront the Challenges of IV Feeding

20 Mapping the Way to Even Healthier Rice

22 New Bioenergy Yeast Is an Overachiever

23 Locations Featured in This Magazine Issue

Nematode-Filled Capsules Tested Against Corn Rootworms, Jan Suszkiw

Agricultural Research Magazine

Each spring, the western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera) awakens from its winter slumber to wreak havoc on corn crops across the United States. The pest emerges in larval form, hatching from small white eggs deposited beneath the soil and causing significant feeding damage to the grain crop’s roots. The toll on U.S. farmers: an estimated $1-2 billion annually in yield losses and chemical control.

European growers face a similar threat from the pest, which was first reported in a corn field near the Belgrade international airport in Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia) in 1992, but is presumed to have arrived …

Fluctuating Viability Selection On Morphology Of Cliff Swallows Is Driven By Climate, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Erin A. Roche

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The extent to which fluctuating selection can maintain evolutionary stasis in most populations remains an unresolved question in evolutionary biology. Climate has been hypothesized to drive reversals in the direction of selection among different time periods and may also be responsible for intense episodic selection caused by rare weather events. We measured viability selection associated with morphological traits in cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) in western Nebraska, USA, over a 14-year period following a rare climatic event. We used mark-recapture to estimate the annual apparent survival of over 26 000 individuals whose wing, tail, tarsus, and bill had been …

Estimating Animal Population Density Using Passive Acoustics, Tiago A. Marques, Len Thomas, Stephen W. Martin, David K. Mellinger, Jessica A. Ward, Danielle Harris, Peter L. Tyack

Bioacoustics Collection

Reliable estimation of the size or density of wild animal populations is very important for effective wildlife management, conservation and ecology. Currently, the most widely used methods for obtaining such estimates involve either sighting animals from transect lines or some form of capture-recapture on marked or uniquely identifiable individuals. However, many species are difficult to sight, and cannot be easily marked or recaptured. Some of these species produce readily identifiable sounds, providing an opportunity to use passive acoustic data to estimate animal density. In addition, even for species for which other visually based methods are feasible, passive acoustic methods offer …

Predicting Nesting Habitat Of Northern Goshawks In Mixed Aspen-Lodgepole Pine Forests In A High-Elevation Shrub-Steppe Dominated Landscape, Robert A. Miller, Jay D. Carlisle, Marc J. Bechard, Dena Santini

Intermountain Bird Observatory Publications and Presentations

We developed a habitat suitability model for predicting nest locations of breeding Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) in the high-elevation mixed forest and shrub-steppe habitat of south-central Idaho, USA. We used elevation, slope, aspect, ruggedness, distance-to-water, canopy cover, and individual bands of Landsat imagery as predictors for known nest locations with logistic regression. We found goshawks prefer to nest in gently-sloping, east-facing, non-rugged areas of dense aspen and lodgepole pine forests with low reflectance in green (0.53 - 0.61 μm) wavelengths during the breeding season. We used the model results to classify our 43,169 hectare study area into nesting …

Final Evaluation Of The North East Agricultural Region (Near) Strategy, Andrew Blake, Don Burnside, Vicki Williams

All other publications

No abstract provided.

Taking The Road Most Travelled: Understanding Patterns Of Snake (Colubridae; Storeria) Movement And Road Mortality In A State Park, Iwo P. Gross

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Supplementing Distillers' Grains In A Yearling System As A Forage Replacement Tool With Bunk Or Ground Feeding, And Impact Of Winter Supplementation Level On Finishing Performance And Profit, Kari L. Gillespie

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The benefit of adding weight to cattle prior to entering the finishing phase through a forage-based backgrounding system has become more important with increased corn price. Further, as competition for available forage increases, the value of replacing grazed forage with a supplement such as distillers grains, also increases.

A 2-year beef systems study evaluated optimal supplementation time of distillers grains and summer forage savings with distillers supplementation. High winter level supplementation of distillers grains increased winter ADG, decreased summer ADG, and increased final live weights and HCW compared to cattle supplemented at a low supplement level designed to only meet …

Maternal Obesity Alters Fetal Development Due To Impaired Placental Function And Has Lasting Effects On Adult Offspring, Kristin Ann Norwood

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Obesity is an epidemic in many developed nations and maternal obesity can result in developmental alterations in offspring that have long-lasting effects. Two experiments were conducted to determine the impact of maternal obesity on placental development and early embryonic growth and muscle development. Experiment one utilized obese Lethal Yellow (LY) and normal weight C57BL/6 (B6) dams to assess how maternal obesity alters skeletal muscle development in mid-gestational embryos. Embryos from LY dams exhibited decreased embryo and placental weights as well as an increase in the myogenic marker desmin. Furthermore, the adipogenic marker PPARG expression was predominately localized to the neural …

Nutrient, Tenderness, And Strip Loin Differences Of Beef From Cattle Due To Mutation Of The Myostatin Gene, Michelle Elaine Semler

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objectives of this study was to determine tenderness, nutrient, and musculature differences of loins from cattle with variation of myostatin gene. Steers (n = 21, 22, and 16) and heifers (n = 19, 20, and 20) were genotyped as homozygous (MM; active myostatin gene), heterozygous (Mm; partially recessive myostatin) or homozygous (mm; recessive inactive myostatin), respectively. At 3 d post mortem Longissimus dorsi (LD) and Semitendinosus (ST) were collected. Loins were cut into 2.5 cm thick steaks evaluated for: total number steaks, total number vein steaks, total number non-vein steaks, and individual steak weight. Nutrient analysis steaks were cut …

Effects Of Ergot Alkaloids And Bovine Bodily Fluids On Cytochrome P450 Activity, Nicholas Scott Ezell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates the Promega^TM P450-Glo assay (Promega^TM V9800) as a tool for quantifying ergot alkaloid concentration. Current techniques used for detection of ergot alkaloids are slow and expensive, do not detect all ergot alkaloids, or are not effective on bovine bodily fluids. The first study was conducted to determine effects of commercial ergot alkaloids (n = 6; 0 - 400 μM) on the Promega^TM P450-Glo assay. Cytochrome P450 (CYP450) activity in assay had a differential response to each ergot alkaloid and concentration. As concentrations of ergotamine, dihydroergotamine, ergocornine, and ergocryptine increased CYP450 activity was inhibited (P …

Efficacy Of Probiotics For Reducing The Incidence Of Lameness In Broilers Grown On Wire Flooring, John Matthew Stark

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing broilers on wire flooring provides an excellent experimental model for reproducibly triggering significant levels of lameness. In Pilot Study #1 using broilers from Line C grown on wire flooring, adding the Biomin probiotic PoultryStar® to the feed reduced the percentage of lameness by half when compared with broilers that received the control diet alone. In Pilot Study # 2 using broilers from Line B grown on wire flooring, adding the PoultryStar® probiotic reduced the percentage of lameness to 8% when compared with 28% lameness in broilers that received the control diet alone. The objective of this study was to …

Effects Of Using Canola Meal As A Protein Source In Broiler Diets, Charles Danny Bradley Jr

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Six experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of broilers fed canola meal. Experiment 1 assessed performance and carcass yields when broilers were fed various combinations of canola and soybean meal in nutritionally balanced diets based on digestible amino acid values. The results suggested that canola meal can be used in isocaloric diets as a partial replacement for Soybean meal.

Experiment 2 assessed broiler performance and carcass yields when using various levels of canola meal in broiler diets with a constant level of supplemental poultry oil. The resulting data suggested when diets are formulated with a constant level of supplemental …

Relationship Of Lactate Dehydrogenase & Prolactin Genotypes To Immune Function, Growth, And Composition Of Replacement Heifers Grazing Tall Fescue, Christina Marie Turner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objectives of this research were to determine effects of LDH enzymatic activity and circulating PRL on immune response, growth, composition, and reproduction, and to determine the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms of LDH and PRL on immune function, growth and carcass traits, cyclicty, and fecundity of replacement heifers grazing endophyte infected tall fescue. Eighty-nine Angus based heifers had physical and ultrasound measurements along with blood samples collected at weaning, yearling, and prebreeding. Estrus detection was conducted for 10 d post each collection period, except prebreeding. Pregnancy status was verified after AI and again after bull removal. Heifers were maintained on …

Ecology And Flock-Following Behavior Of The Wedge-Billed Woodcreeper In Eastern Ecuador, Abigail Darrah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The wedge-billed woodcreeper (Glyphorynchus spirurus) is a common understory suboscine passerine of lowland Neotropical rainforests. It frequently joins mixed-species understory flocks but also regularly forages alone, and thus is an excellent model species on which to conduct comparative behavioral observations to examine the hypothesized costs and benefits of flock-following. Individuals exhibit variable flocking propensities (proportion of time spent with flocks), and thus observing the correlations between flocking propensity and physical and environmental factors can provide further insight into the importance of flock-following to the ecology of this species. Despite its abundance at many sites and its wide geographic range, surprisingly …

The Micronutrient Profile Of The Typical American Diet Enhances Colorectal Carcinogenesis, Stephany Del Carmen Perez Monsanto

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The typical Western dietary pattern is characterized by the consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods and has been linked to increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Our research group previously developed the total Western diet (TWD) that emulates typical human dietary intakes of macro- (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) on an energy density basis for rodents. In the present study, we sought to determine the impact of TWD on biomarkers of metabolic syndrome and obesity in comparison to a commercial 45% fat diet used for models of diet-induced obesity (DIO diet) and the standard basal AIN93G diet, …

Comparison Of Topographic Surveying Techniques In Streams, Sara G. Bangen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Fish and Wildlife Program (FWP) mitigates impacts, including mortality, from hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin for ESA-listed salmon and steelhead populations and other species of special concern. Given the extensive economic resources invested in mitigation and the incredible diversity of in-stream habitat across the Columbia River basin, questions have arisen about which sampling strategies are most tractable across the entire Columbia River Watershed, but also produce datasets that allow researchers to answer meaningful questions about salmonid populations and trends in habitat. In response to these issues, the NOAA Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring …

Evaluation Of Survey Methods And Development Of Species Distribution Models For Kit Foxes In The Great Basin Desert, Stephen J. Dempsey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Historically, kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) once occupied the desert and semi-arid regions of southwestern North America, ranging from Idaho to central Mexico. Their range-wide decline has warranted the kit fox to be designated as a state sensitive species in Utah. Once considered the most abundant carnivore in western Utah, the kit fox has been in steep decline over the past decade, creating a demand to determine kit fox presence in the Great Basin desert. Currently there is little consensus on which survey methodology is best for detecting kit fox presence. We tested 4 survey methods (scat deposition, scent …

Integrating, Developing, And Testing Methods To Generate More Cohesive Approaches To Biogeographic Inference, Mallory Elizabeth Eckstut

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As a fundamental component of the developing discipline of conservation biogeography, broadscale analyses of biotic assembly and disassembly across multiple temporal and spatial scales provide an enhanced understanding of how geologic transformations and climate oscillations have shaped extant patterns of biodiversity. As with any scientific field, there are limitations in the case of biogeographic historical reconstructions. Historical reconstructions are only as robust as the theoretical underpinnings of the methods of reconstruction (including data collection, quality, analysis, and interpretation). Nevertheless, historical reconstructions of species distributions can help inform our understanding of how species respond to environmental change.

My dissertation takes a …

Effects Of Environmental Variables On The Reproduction Of Quagga Mussels (Dreissena Rostriformis Bugensis) In Lake Mead, Nv/Az, Richard Steven Ianniello

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2007, quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) were found in Lake Mead and have spread downstream on the Colorado River and to other lakes and reservoirs in the Southwestern United States. The quagga mussel's extremely quick colonization of Lake Mead and annual veliger abundance trends provide evidence that the quagga mussels in the Southwest have different reproductive behavior than in previous habitats. This study is one of the first to specifically examine quagga mussel reproduction in the Southwest and examines how quagga mussel reproduction varies at sites known to have different temperatures and other environmental variables resulting from the input …

Genetic Analysis Of The Promoter Region Of The Serotonin Receptor 5ht2b And Its Contribution To Pulmonary Hypertension Syndrome In Broiler-Type Chickens, Khaloud Awada Alzahrani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a sever disorder characterized by high pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance along with specific histological changes. Idiopathic PAH is a human disease of unknown origin that showed common characteristics to PHS/ascites in chicken. PHS/ascites is a condition found in broilers causing right ventricular hypertrophy, valvular insufficiency, increased venous pressure, variable liver changes, accumulation of fluids in the abdominal cavity, and finally lung and heart failure. Currently, there is no acceptable animal model for human PAH. Our group has been validating the chicken as the medical animal model for human PAH, thus we have …