Digital Commons Network^™

The Whales Of Cape Cod, John C. Jahoda

Bridgewater Review

In recent years, public concern for marine mammals has resulted in the rediscovery of our native New England whales. However, this time instead of hunting them for their oil, whale bone and flesh, we follow whales to learn more about the ecology and behavior of these, the largest of all mammals. Growing public interest in whales has resulted in several successful whale watching enterprises through which large numbers of people have a unique and unforgettable opportunity to view whales up close. Public trips have done more than allow large number of people to see whales. They have contributed to a …

The Impact Of Performance Testing On Production Selection, Ross A. Jacobson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Performance testing data from a registered herd of Hereford cattle in Northern Utah for the years 1974 through 1980 were analyzed in this study. The cattle consisted of a spring calving herd, approximately 440 cows, and a fall calving herd, approximately 120 cows. Five weaning traits (weaning weight, weight per day of age, 205-day weaning weight, 205-dat adjusted weaning weight, weaning index) and four yearling traits (yearling weight, average daily gain, 365-day adjusted yearling weight, yearling index) were computed on the offspring from both herds, for the years mentioned, to test the influence of a performance testing program on the …

Effect Of Three Methods Of Processing Barley On Intake And Production Of Lactating Cows, Carlos Garcia Jauregui

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Twenty-four lactating cows were randomly assigned to three treatments within eight each 3 x 3 latin squares with three periods of 21 days duration. Three processing treatments of barley were 1) steam-rolled, 2) ground (fine), and 3) soak-rolled (soaked in water for appr. 24 hours, rolled, and fed within 48 hours). All rations were fed ad libitum and were comprised of 24% alfalfa hay, 16% corn silage, 35.5% barley, 12% whole cottonseed, 12% wheat bran, 0.3% salt, and 0.3% dicalcium phosphate on a dry matter (DM) basis. Electronic doors were used to collect individual feed intake data. Rations and feces …

Nutrient Requirements Of Ruminants In Developing Countries, Leonard C. Kearl

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This book was assembled using the latest information for compiling the nutrient requirements of sheep, goats, cattle and water buffalo. Because of the complexity of the interactions between an animal, its diet, its physiological state, and the environment; the values depicting the nutrient requirements are estimates and not absolutes. These values, however, are considered to be adequate to meet the minimum requirements of healthy animals maintained in a thermoneutral environment.

The mean energy and protein values used in the nutrient tables were arrived at from combining values found in the literature and those provided in personal communication with animal nutritionists …

Toxicologic Effects Of Extracts Of Cestrum Parqui L'Héritier In Mice, Tomás A. López

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cestrum parqui L'Héritier is a Solanaceous weed of wide distribution throughout the world. It causes poisoning of animals, particularly cattle and sheep, and constitutes a serious problem for animal production in some countries.

The present study was undertaken to develop a biological test for the detection of toxicity of extracts obtained from the plant. This test will be utilized to assess the toxicity of extracts obtained from the plant in future studies.

The plant is known to induce poisoning in laboratory animals, but there are no precise references on doses to be utilized and of appropriate routes of dosing. Oral …

Reproductive Behavioral And Physiological Traits In Domestic, Wild, And Hybrid Ovis, Kara-Lynn Crocker-Bedford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was part of a program to develop new genotypes of sheep (Ovis spp.) and goats (Capra spp.) which are more useful for food and fiber production. The study examined the influence of domestication on behavioral and physiological traits of ewes and lambs, the influence of a single or twin offspring on ewe and lamb behaviors, and general relationships between ewes and lambs during the lambs' first month of life.

Domestication has caused the intensities of observed traits to diverge greatly from the tendencies shown by wild populations. Domestication has produced increases in measurements associated with maternal …

Cougar Predation And Ecological Energetics In Southern Utah, Bruce Bennet Ackerman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Diet of cougars (Felis concolor) was studied from December 1978 to August 1981, on a 4500 km2 study area near Escalante, Utah. Prey eaten was determined from analysis of 112 animals consumed as prey, and from 239 cougar scats. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were the major prey item, comprising 81% of biomass consumed. Lagomorphs, large rodents, and smaller predators were also important components. Cattle comprised <1% of the diet, although commonly grazed on the cougar's summer range. Adult male and juvenile (<1yr) mule deer were killed more often than expected, in fall (P<0.10) and in winter (P<0.005). Cougars were a major cause of mortality of adult deer (41% of all adult female deaths, 35% of male), but only 6% of mortality of juveniles. Selection of prey seemed to be a function of prey vulnerability, rather than one of active choice by the predator.

Motion-sensitive radio-transmitters were placed on 15 cougars, from 3 months to 7-9 years of age. Three parameters of the radio signal were used to determine activity levels during 6843 …

Assay, Purification, And Characterization Of A Pantetheine Hydrolyzing Enzyme From Pig Kidney, Carl Thomas Wittwer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A microsomal glycoprotein hydrolyzing pantetheine to pantothenate and cysteamine has been solubilized and purified to homogeneity as determined by sodium dodecylsulfate electrophoresis. Four rapid, independent assays of pantetheine hydrolysis are described and compared along with a method for localizing enzymatic activity on polyacrylamide gels. The enzyme is solubilized on exposure to butanol and purified by heat treatment, (NH4)₂SO₄ fractionation, hydrophobic chromatography, and hydroxyapatite chromatography. The glycoprotein, purified 5600-fold in 22% yield, has a specific activity of 14 μmoles pantothenate produced/min/mg of protein, 35 times that previously reported. The enzyme has a pH optimum of 9.0-9.5 and a …

Comparison Of Fishery Policies And Management Techniques Of The United States And Iceland, Ted I. Lillestolen

Marine Affairs Theses and Major Papers

In 1976, the United States enacted the Fishery Conservation and Management Act (FCMA), presently referred to as the Magnuson Fishery conservation and Management Act (MFCMA). The legislation is a complex and detailed document establishing for the first time a national fishery policy. The Act also created an organizational structure designed to implement this new policy. Since the Act's implementation, there has been a great deal of controversy, especially generated by the commercial fishermen. This paper focuses on Iceland, primarily because of its great economic dependency on its fisheries resources, unlike the United States.

Sunset As An Orientational Cue For A Nocturnal Migrant, The White-Throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia Albicollis), James Pauly

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The possibility that nocturnal migrants use sunset as an orientational cue was explored in the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) between 1 April and 24 April, 1981. Orientation tests were run on the roof of the biology building at Western Kentucky University when birds were assumed to be in the proper physiological condition for migration. Birds exposed to only nighttime skies, birds isolated from all visual cues, and birds exposed to both daytime and nighttime skies did not exhibit the northward directional preference appropriate for the season tested. However, White-throated Sparrows exposed only to sunset and tested in the absence …

Is Your Pet Safe From Laboratory Experimentation?

Close Up Reports

Researchers still claim need for shelter animals as test subjects

Food Habits And Ecology Of Beavers In Southeastern Virginia, John Lennox Echternach Jr.

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The food habits and ecology of three beaver colonies in James County, Virginia were studied. Vegetation surrounding the colonies was characterized as southern mixed hardwood forest or lowland swamp forest. Stream flow values ranged from 0.013 to 0.369 m³/sec. Water depth ranged from 0.5 60 4.0 m. Caloric value of 13 heavily used woody species ranged from 3305 to 6204 cal/g. Considerable seasonal variation was noted in most species with the lowest caloric values noted in summer. No relationship was found between caloric value and frequency of use. Fresh cutting was monitored on a weekly basis and a …

Evidence For The Horizontal Acquisition Of Murine Akr Virogenes By Recent Horizontal Infection Of The Germ Line, Stephen J. O'Brien, Janet L. Moore, Malcolm A. Martin, James E. Womack

Biology Faculty Articles

Several recent reports have established the biological and molecular genetic similarity between the endogenous AKV virus of strain AKR, and an N-ecotropic endogenous virus found in the genome of feral Japanese mice, Mus musculus molossinus. The similarities are so striking as to suggest a common origin of these viruses, which are present in some, but not all, inbred mouse strains. The virogenes of AKR mice may have been acquired by either: (a) common descent of AKR (and other AKV⁺ strains) from a common ancestor of AKR and molossinus animals, or (b) horizontal germ line infection of the AKR …

A Laboratory Study Of Nongenetic Embryonic Adaptation To Salinity And Its Subsequent Effects Upon Larval Development Of The Grass Shrimp Palaemonetes Pugio Holthius, Paul Jay Anninos

OES Theses and Dissertations

Fertilized embryos of the grass shrimp Palamonetes pugio Holthuis (Decapoda; Caridea) were exposed to two levels of salinity [5 ppt (exposed) and 20 ppt (control)] during incubation to determine the extent to which embryonic adaptation influences subsequent larval development. Larval response to embryonic exposure was measured at three salinities (5 ppt, 10 ppt, and 20 ppt) as the fraction of larvae surviving to metamorphosis and the duration (in days) of larval development. The survival rate of larvae hatched from control, or non-adapted, embryos was significantly influenced by rearing salinity. The differences in survival of pre-adapted larvae (exposed group), however, were …

1982 Little International Agricultural Exposition Catalog, Little International Agricultural Exposition South Dakota State University

Little International "Little I" Agricultural Exposition Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Strange Males Block Pregnancy In Lactating Pine Voles, Microtus Pinetorum, And Reduce Survival And Growth Of Nursing Young, Margaret H. Schadler

Eastern Pine and Meadow Vole Symposia

Strange (unfamiliar) males affect survival of progeny of reproductive female rodents in a variety of ways. In mice, strange males block pregnancy before implantation of embryos (Bruce, 1959) but only in females that are not lactating (Bruce and Parkes, 1961). In voles these males can block pregnancy both before and after implantation (Stehn and Richmond, 1975; Marks and Schadler, 1979; Schadler, 1981). Strange males have also been shown to kill nursing pups in lemmings (Mallory and Brooks, 1978) and mice (Labov, 1980 and vom Saal and Howard, 1982).

The present study in pine voles (Microtus pinetorum) examines the …

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 58, No. 1), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Whooper Recount: A Close Look At These Endangered Cranes Reveals That, While Their Numbers Are Increasing, Their Rate Of Increase Is Actually Declining, Paul A. Johnsgard

Papers in Ornithology

I have assembled figures for the 43-year period from 1938 through 1980, and have subjected them to various kinds of analysis. During this period, 220 young and 1,437 postjuvenile birds have appeared on the wintering grounds. This works out to an annual recruitment rate of 13.3 percent. (This is not exactly the same as the birthrate, of course, since the loss of eggs, chicks, and juveniles prior to arrival at Aransas is excluded.) The recruitment rate provides an estimate of the rate of maximum annual population increase. One hundred fifty-four birds that had been counted in any given year failed …

Conception And Embryonic Development In The Beef Female, Ralph R. Maurer, Sherrill E. Echternkamp, William F. Pope

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Reproduction is an important economic trait in beef cattle production. The average percent calf crop for the United States has been estimated between 80 to 85%. Approximately 60% of the reduction in calf crop can be attributed to fertilization failure and embryonic death. We conducted several studies to determine at what stage of the reproductive cycle losses were incurred in normal reproducing cows and heifers and in cows and heifers that failed to reproduce. In addition, we measured hormone levels in normal range cows and heifers and used techniques like embryo transfer and culture to study the development of the …

Genetic Variation Among And Within Herds Of Angus And Hereford Cattle, Larry V. Cundiff, Keith A. Gregory

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Historically, beef cattle record of performance programs have by necessity expressed variation as deviations or ratios from herd means because differences between herds are believed to be large primarily because of environment. To the extent differences between herds are genetic, this procedure underestimates or overestimates breeding values of individuals relative to breed average depending on whether they are produced in herds of above or below average genetic merit for a breed. We conducted this study in cooperation with the American Angus Association and the American Polled Hereford Association, and designed it to separate and evaluate the relative importance of between-herd …

Lipid Synthesis In The Beef Animal, Ronald L. Prior, Stephen B. Smith

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Rates of in vitro fat synthesis from acetate and lactate were compared to the activities of enzymes thought to be involved in the process of lipid synthesis from lactate. Results of these studies indicate that lactate can be incorporated into fats by a pathway heretofore thought to be nonfunctional in ruminants, the citrate cleavage:malic enzyme pathway. Studies of the effects of age and diet on the enzymes of the citrate cleavage:malic enzyme pathway support the concept of a physiological role for this pathway in lipid synthesis in beef cattle.

Relationship Of Selected Beef Carcass Traits With Meat Palatability, John D. Crouse

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Relationships among selected carcass traits and cooked meat palatability were studied on 240 carcasses obtained from steers of different biological types produced under a wide range of feeding regimens. Breed type of steer or feeding regimen had little or no effect on correlations among taste panel (TP) scores for tenderness, juiciness, flavor, and general acceptability. Treatments also had little effect on correlations of conformation, lean color, lean texture, and final maturity with TP observations. Late maturing breeds of steers and steers fed on low energy regimens were rated more youthful than early maturing breeds of steers and steers fed on …

Beef Research Program Progress Report No. 1 (1982): Table Of Contents

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

ROMAN L. HRUSKA U.S. MEAT ANIMAL RESEARCH CENTER, Robert R. Oltjen........iii

BREEDING AND GENETICS

Sixteen years of selection for weaning weight, final weight, and muscling score in Hereford cattle: Robert M. Koch, Larry V. Cundiff, and Keith E. Gregory. . . . . . . . . . . .. 1

Effects of heterosis in Hereford, Angus, and Shorthorn rotational crosses: Larry V. Cundiff, Keith E. Gregory, and Robert M. Koch. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. 3

Heterosis and breed maternal and transmitted effects in beef cattle: Keith E. Gregory, Larry …

Effect Of Grain Source And Dietary Level Of Oat Hulls On Phosphorus And Calcium Utilization In The Growing Pig, R. L. Moser, E. R. Peo, Jr., B. D. Moser, A. J. Lewis

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Three metabolism trials were conducted to determine the effect of grain source and dietary level of oat hulls on dry matter digestibility, P and Ca retention and intestinal phytase activity of growing pigs. Twenty-four crossbred pigs (39 kg)were used. Dry matter digestibilities of corn-based diets were greater (P<.01) than grain sorghum-based diets (74.7 vs 63.5%). Diets containing 10% oat hulls had lower (P<.01) dry matter digestibilities than diets containing no oat hulls (64.0 vs 74.2%).

The Suriname Small Mammal Survey: A Case Study Of The Cooperation Between Research And National Conservation Needs, Hugh H. Genoways, Henry A. Reichart, Stephen L. Williams

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

A cooperative program between the Foundation for Nature Preservation in Suriname and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to survey the small mammals of Suriname is reviewed. The program has proven to be mutually beneficial and it is presented as a model for development of similar programs in the future. The technical assistance requested by the Foundation for Nature Preservation in Suriname concerned the distribution and natural history of small mammals, especially those occurring in the Nature Parks and Reserves. The Government of Suriname has established an excellent system of Reserves and Parks throughout the country. They are trying to …

Earthworms Of Two Minnesota Forest Areas, R. O. Morgenweck, W. H. Marshall

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This paper reviews Lumbricidae records for Minnesota and reports on two collections in northern areas of the state. The first site, Itasca State Park, lies to the northwest with "Maple-basswood representative of climax forest to the south and southeast" and " Spruce-fir stands representative of climax forest to the north and northeast" (Buell and Gordon 1945). The Cloquet Forestry Center (CFC); site of the other collection, is near Duluth, 150 miles to the east, where the forests are largely coniferous. Here seven forest types, as described by Wenstrom (1973), and known to be used by American woodcock (Philohela minor), were …

A Vertebrate Survey Of Kasota Prairie, Kenneth Hessenius

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Kasota Prairie is a 30-acre tract of near-virgin prairie in Le Seur County, Minnesota. The vertebrate population at the prairie was studied to determine its significance as habitat for those species. Several species of birds which require prairie or prairie-like habitat were found to be nesting there. Many other avian species also utilize the area for feeding purposes. Small mammal populations were highly influenced by annual prairie maintenance burning.

Utilization Of Wood Duck Nest Boxes By Wildlife Near Cohasset, Minnesota, Robert T. Bohm

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

Twenty-seven wood duck boxes located along the Mississippi River near Cohasset, Minnesota were monitored for winter and spring wildlife use from 198o-1982. During these three yearn, overall nest box use was 84 percent, 72 percent, and 82 percent, respectively; winter utilization was 44 percent, 56 percent, and 68 percent; spring utilization was 48 percent, 44 percent, and 37 percent. Most winter use was by red squirrels, gray squirrels, and starlings. Principal spring use was by wood ducks and common goldeneyes, During the course of the study, wood duck use decreased and common goldeneye use Increased. Aspects of the nesting season …

Characterization Of Breeds Representing Diverse Biological Types: Postweaning Growth And Feed Efficiency, Larry V. Cundiff, Robert M. Koch, Keith E. Gregory

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

On a life-cycle basis, about 30% of the energy requirements for beef production are consumed by steers and heifers during the period from weaning to slaughter. About 45 to 55% of the total feed costs are incurred in the postweaning period, depending on the cost of feed resources for the cow herd relative to those for the feedlot. We find it is important, therefore, to characterize breeds of cattle for rate and efficiency of postweaning gain.

Methane And Protein From Beef Cattle Manure, Andrew G. Hashimoto, Yud-Ren Chen, Vincent H. Varel, Ronald L. Prior

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Dwindling supplies of conventional fossil fuels have prompted renewed interest in recovering energy through the bioconversion of waste organic materials. The large quantities of manure produced in confinement feedlots and the need to manage this manure effectively make feedlots a logical choice for assessing the feasibility of recovering methane and protein through anaerobic fermentation.

Research at U.S. Meat Animal Research Center is designed to determine the technical and economic feasibility of recovering methane and protein from beef cattle manure.

Specific Objectives are to:

1. Develop design criteria for optimum production of methane and protein through anaerobic fermentation of beef cattle …