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A New Record Of Three-Band Garden Slug Ambigolimax Valentianus (A. Férussac, 1822) (Gastropoda: Limacidae) From Turkey, İhsan Eki̇n, Ridvan Şeşen Jan 2018

A New Record Of Three-Band Garden Slug Ambigolimax Valentianus (A. Férussac, 1822) (Gastropoda: Limacidae) From Turkey, İhsan Eki̇n, Ridvan Şeşen

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Ambigolimax valentianus (A. Férussac, 1822), the three-band garden slug, is originally native to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Balearic Islands); however, it has been spread by human activities to many other parts of the world. There is no distributional record of the slug in Turkey to date. The species was recorded for the first time in Turkey during a biological survey carried out in the accommodation area of Dicle University (Diyarbakır) in October 2017. Some of the slugs were transferred to the laboratory for their morphological determination and dissection. Notably, more than 50 species of slugs dwell on …

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New Species And New Record Of Chelonini (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) From Western Iran, Alireza Rajabi Mazhar, Shila Goldasteh, Samira Farahani, Cornelis Van Achterberg Jan 2018

New Species And New Record Of Chelonini (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) From Western Iran, Alireza Rajabi Mazhar, Shila Goldasteh, Samira Farahani, Cornelis Van Achterberg

Turkish Journal of Zoology

In 2015 and 2016, the occurrence of the tribe Chelonini (Braconidae, Cheloninae) in the province of Hamadan (western Iran) was surveyed using malaise traps. In total, 12 species were discovered. Chelonus (C.) olgae Kokujev, 1895 is new to the fauna of Iran and one species, Chelonus (Microchelonus) subpamiricus Farahani & van Achterberg sp. nov., is new to science. The diagnostic characters and supplementary illustrations of the newly recorded species are provided.

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Sexual Size Dimorphism And Sex Determination By External Measurements In The Redshank Tringa Totanus, Wlodzimierz Meissner, Pavel Pinchuk, Natalia Karlionova, Izabela Fischer, Lucyna Pilacka Jan 2018

Sexual Size Dimorphism And Sex Determination By External Measurements In The Redshank Tringa Totanus, Wlodzimierz Meissner, Pavel Pinchuk, Natalia Karlionova, Izabela Fischer, Lucyna Pilacka

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The Redshank is a wader species that shows no sexual dimorphism in plumage, but some dimorphism in size. To propose a method for sexing birds of this species by linear measurements, a discriminant function analysis was applied to a set of morphometric traits in birds captured during the spring migration in southern Belarus. In total, 113 males and 75 females were measured and sexed molecularly. On average, females were larger in all measurements than males. The most sexually dimorphic trait was wing length, which was included in the discriminant function analysis. Jackknife cross-validation showed that the provided equation allowed the …

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Investigations On The Cannibalistic Behavior Of Ladybird Beetlecoccinella Septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Under Laboratory Conditions, Muhammad Hamayoon Khan, Zeynep Yoldaş Jan 2018

Investigations On The Cannibalistic Behavior Of Ladybird Beetlecoccinella Septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Under Laboratory Conditions, Muhammad Hamayoon Khan, Zeynep Yoldaş

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Cannibalism or intraspecific predation, where one species feeds on individuals of its own species, is a widespread phenomenon in most aphidophagous coccinellids. Laboratory studies were conducted on the cannibalistic behavior of various developmental stages of Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in the presence and absence of natural food, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Hemiptera: Aphididae). In both the presence and absence of aphids, the eggs and 1st and 2nd instars of C. septempunctata were cannibalized by the adults, and the level was inversely related to the availability of aphids. The same was also true for cannibalism of eggs by larvae and within …

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Fractal Analysis Of Structural Differences Of Otolith Microrelief In Closely Related And Distant Baikal Ichthyotaxa, Marina Tyagun, Aleksey Golovko Jan 2018

Fractal Analysis Of Structural Differences Of Otolith Microrelief In Closely Related And Distant Baikal Ichthyotaxa, Marina Tyagun, Aleksey Golovko

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Fractal analysis helped find differences in species in the organisation of fish otolith crystalline surfaces in 2 closely related and 2 distant species. To determine regularities of this organisation, we used the microcanonical method of multifractal spectra. It was revealed that the differences of multifractal spectra were more significant for longer distances of taxonomic divergence.

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Habitat Structure And Host Plant Specialization Drive Taxonomic Andfunctional Composition Of Heteroptera In Postfire Successional Habitats, Eduardo Mateos, Marta Goula, Teresa Sauras, Xavier Santos Jan 2018

Habitat Structure And Host Plant Specialization Drive Taxonomic Andfunctional Composition Of Heteroptera In Postfire Successional Habitats, Eduardo Mateos, Marta Goula, Teresa Sauras, Xavier Santos

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Changes in habitat structure are the main driving forces for responses of animal assemblages to fire. According to the disturbance theory, generalist species are expected to outperform specialists in variable environments. Thus, we hypothesized that omnivorous and polyphagous species will become more abundant in unstable postfire successional vegetation, whereas monophagous (specialists), due to their strong dependence on host plants, are expected to respond according to the responses of plant hosts. We compared the responses of true bug (Heteroptera) assemblages in stable (unburnt) versus unstable (postfire successional) environments as this group shows a high diversity of feeding strategies. Redundancy analysis fitted …

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The Invasive Ameiurus Nebulosus (Lesueur, 1819) As A Permanent Part Of The Fish Fauna In Selected Reservoirs In Central Europe: Long-Term Study Of Three Shallow Lakes, Jacek Rechulicz, Wojciech Plaska Jan 2018

The Invasive Ameiurus Nebulosus (Lesueur, 1819) As A Permanent Part Of The Fish Fauna In Selected Reservoirs In Central Europe: Long-Term Study Of Three Shallow Lakes, Jacek Rechulicz, Wojciech Plaska

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The invasive brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus (Lesueur, 1918)) has been present in Europe since the late 19th century, but there is still a lack of reliable information about its distribution in Europe and the condition of its population. A long-term study (from 2000 to 2011) in three shallow lakes in Central Europe (eastern Poland) was carried out to determine the occurrence of the brown bullhead and its participation in the fish community. The brown bullhead was present in almost all the sampling fishing in all the lakes studied (C$_{i}$ = 72%-82%). Its mean abundance and share in the fish biomass …

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Three New Records From Phylinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae) For The Turkish Fauna, Gülten Yazici, Erol Yildirim Jan 2018

Three New Records From Phylinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae) For The Turkish Fauna, Gülten Yazici, Erol Yildirim

Turkish Journal of Zoology

This study was conducted in the Erzurum province of Turkey during 2009-2014. The species Criocoris crassicornis (Hahn, 1834), Europiella artemisiae (Becker, 1864), and Paredrocoris pectoralis Reuter, 1878 were recorded for the first time from Turkey. The important taxonomic characters are described and photographs or illustrations are provided.

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A New Ostracoda (Crustacea) Genus, Comalcandona Gen. Nov., From Texas, Usa, Okan Külköylüoğlu, Randy Gibson Jan 2018

A New Ostracoda (Crustacea) Genus, Comalcandona Gen. Nov., From Texas, Usa, Okan Külköylüoğlu, Randy Gibson

Turkish Journal of Zoology

A new freshwater ostracod genus, Comalcandona gen. nov., and its type species (Comalcandona tressleri sp. nov.) are described from John Knox Ranch, Comal County, Texas, USA. The new genus differs from the related genera in the presence of the shallow pits on the trapezoidal shape of the carapace and presence of one well-developed anterior claw (posterior claw and both anterior and posterior setae are absent) on the uropod, a diagnostic character. Differences in the structure of the hemipenes, length and numbers of setae on the extremities, and shape of some other soft body parts also separate this genus from the …

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Tardigrada Of Bory Tucholskie National Park, Zaborski Landscape Park, And Their Surroundings (Pomerania Province, Poland), Lukasz Kaczmarek, Jakub Kosicki, Milena Roszkowska Jan 2018

Tardigrada Of Bory Tucholskie National Park, Zaborski Landscape Park, And Their Surroundings (Pomerania Province, Poland), Lukasz Kaczmarek, Jakub Kosicki, Milena Roszkowska

Turkish Journal of Zoology

In this paper, samples of mosses and lichens collected from Bory Tucholskie National Park, Zaborski Landscape Park, and their surroundings (Pomerania Province, northern Poland) were studied for water bears (Tardigrada). In total, 38 tardigrade taxa were identified and six of them (Hypsibius cf. allisoni, Hyp. scabropygus, Macrobiotus sottilei, Milnesium beasleyi, Mil. dornensis, and Mil. granulatum) are new records for the Polish fauna. Eighteen taxa (only 14 identified to the species level) were found in Bory Tucholskie National Park, whereas in Zaborski Landscape Park this number was much larger, i.e. 28 taxa (including 22 identified to the species level), as well …

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Feeding Dynamics And Performance Of Beetal Does In Relation To Body Condition Score At The Time Of Mating, Arpan Sharma, Sandeep Kaswan, S. Siva Kumar, Jaspal Singh Lamba Jan 2018

Feeding Dynamics And Performance Of Beetal Does In Relation To Body Condition Score At The Time Of Mating, Arpan Sharma, Sandeep Kaswan, S. Siva Kumar, Jaspal Singh Lamba

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

The body condition of does at the time of mating may affect feeding patterns and production performance during forthcoming lactation. For investigation, 40 Beetal does available for breeding were utilized, and their body condition score (BCS) was estimated using the visual-cum-palpation method with a 9-point scale (scale of 1=5 with increments of 0.5 point). The available goats were divided into 3 groups: higher BCS (T$_{≥3.0}$; n =11), moderate BCS (T$_{2.5}$; n = 8), and lower BCS (T$_{≤2.0}$; n = 21) and maintained in 2 random groups (20 each). Beetal goats with higher BCS at breeding time spent significantly (P < 0.01) more time feeding comfortably and less time feeding with difficulty than moderate and lower BCS goats. T2.5 and T$_{≤2.0}$ goats struggled (displacement and pushing) more at feeders, which included T$_{≤2.0}$ goats eating from the ground for more time (P < 0.01) than the other groups. T$_{≥3.0}$ goats had more agonistic interactions (threatening and hitting) toward moderate and lower BCS goats at feeders. Goats with higher BCS at mating had significantly (P < 0.05) higher milk yield during subsequent lactation; however, the composition of the milk did not differ among the groups. Mean disease incidence rate and number of days of disease per goat were significantly (P < 0.01) lesser in the T$_{≥3.0}$ group than other groups. It was concluded that Beetal goats should not have less than 3.0 BCS at the time of mating for better performance and health status.

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Impacts Of Environmental Factors On Zooplankton Taxonomic Diversity In Coastal Lagoons In Turkey, Nuray Akbulut, Ülkü Ni̇han Tavşanoğlu Jan 2018

Impacts Of Environmental Factors On Zooplankton Taxonomic Diversity In Coastal Lagoons In Turkey, Nuray Akbulut, Ülkü Ni̇han Tavşanoğlu

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Lagoons are valuable ecosystems providing various services, such as fishing, recreational activities, and land reclamation, as well as hosting high biodiversity. Although lagoons in Turkey cover a coastal area of more than 36,000 ha, few studies of them have been conducted. Therefore, two lagoons (Dalyan and Arapçiftliği) located on the coast of the Sea of Marmara in the Kocaçay Delta, which is under intense anthropogenic pressure, were investigated between November 2013 and March 2015 to examine the effects of environmental factors on taxonomic diversity. In addition, ongoing high nutrient flow from the Karacabey region triggers eutrophication in the lagoons, thus …

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Morphological Variation Of Pumpkinseed (Lepomis Gibbosus) With Emphasis On Allometry, Fati̇h Mangit, Mustafa Korkmaz, Sedat Vahdet Yerli̇ Jan 2018

Morphological Variation Of Pumpkinseed (Lepomis Gibbosus) With Emphasis On Allometry, Fati̇h Mangit, Mustafa Korkmaz, Sedat Vahdet Yerli̇

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Pumpkinseed(Lepomis gibbosus)is an exotic fish species widely distributed in Europe and it has expanded its distribution area in Turkey since its first report in 1982. It is well known that invasive species like L. gibbosus adapt to introduced habitats relatively well. In order to evaluate morphological variation within this invasive species, sampling was carried out in June 2012 and May 2013 in the Aegean and Thrace regions, respectively. Body-form variability in sampled populations of L. gibbosus was investigated using landmark-based geometric morphometrics. L. gibbosus showed significant geographic- and habitat-based differences with and without allometric standardization. However, outcomes of these results …

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Variations In Afrolaophonte Pori Masry, 1970 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Laophontidae): A Contribution Towards The Revision Of The Genus, Serdar Sönmez, Süphan Karaytuğ, Serdar Sak, Alp Alper Jan 2018

Variations In Afrolaophonte Pori Masry, 1970 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Laophontidae): A Contribution Towards The Revision Of The Genus, Serdar Sönmez, Süphan Karaytuğ, Serdar Sak, Alp Alper

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Afrolaophonte pori was originally described from the interstitial habitats of Israel and subsequently reported from Italy and the Aegean coasts of Turkey. It is the only representative of the genus in the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of this study is to present a detailed redescription of A. pori based on extensive material from different parts of the species' range to provide geographic distributional data and to reveal variations within and between the populations. We have examined numerous specimens collected from the Aegean and Mediterranean Turkish coasts and have presented a detailed redescription of both sexes. Despite the fact that the …

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Distribution And Diversity Of Earthworm (Annelida, Clitellata)Populations Across Four Land Use Types In Northern Cameroon, Michel Mathurin Kamdem, Patricks Voua Otomo, Albert Ngakou, Nicolas Njintang Yanou Jan 2018

Distribution And Diversity Of Earthworm (Annelida, Clitellata)Populations Across Four Land Use Types In Northern Cameroon, Michel Mathurin Kamdem, Patricks Voua Otomo, Albert Ngakou, Nicolas Njintang Yanou

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Earthworms are present in all types of soil. Changes in land use influence populations of earthworms. However, information on the dynamics of earthworm populations in northern Cameroon is not available. This paper highlights the research carried out on the abundance, biomass, and diversity of earthworm populations throughout four types of land use in northern Cameroon. Earthworms were sampled throughout the rainy season in three regions, across pastures, woody savannahs, grass savannahs, and fields, using formaldehyde and hand sorting. Earthworms of the woody savannah and pasture have a high mean density (63 and 45 individuals/m2, respectively) and biomass (25.2 and 22 …

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A Comprehensive Phylogenetic Analysis Of Grapsoidea Crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) Based On Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit 1 (Co1) Genes, Zhaozhe Xin, Yu Liu, Boping Tang, Chunlin Zhou, Qiuning Liu Jan 2018

A Comprehensive Phylogenetic Analysis Of Grapsoidea Crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) Based On Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit 1 (Co1) Genes, Zhaozhe Xin, Yu Liu, Boping Tang, Chunlin Zhou, Qiuning Liu

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO1) genes of eight species crabs of Grapsoidea were determined and analyzed in this paper. The traditional classification is that Grapsidae contains four subfamilies comprising Grapsinae, Varuninae, Sesarminae, and Plagusiinae, which are also treated as families in some studies. There is a lack of clarity in the classification of some species, such as Eriocheir species. In this study, we conducted the first exploration of evolutionary relationships among species based on analysis of the molecular data of CO1 genes of eight species (Sesarmops sinensis, Clistocoeloma sinensis, Perisesarma bidens, Helice latimera, Helice tientsinensis, …

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Parasitoids Reared From Galls Of Stefaniola Sp. (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) On Haloxylon Spp. In China, With Redescription Of Mesopolobus Quadrimaculatus Dzhanokmen (Chalcidoidea, Pteromalidae), Qin Li, Klarissa Alekseyevna Dzhanokmen, Serguei Vladimirovich Triapitsyn, Hongying Hu Jan 2018

Parasitoids Reared From Galls Of Stefaniola Sp. (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) On Haloxylon Spp. In China, With Redescription Of Mesopolobus Quadrimaculatus Dzhanokmen (Chalcidoidea, Pteromalidae), Qin Li, Klarissa Alekseyevna Dzhanokmen, Serguei Vladimirovich Triapitsyn, Hongying Hu

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Mesopolobus quadrimaculatus Dzhanokmen (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is recorded for the first time from China and outside of Kazakhstan. It was reared from galls of Stefaniola sp. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on black saxaul, Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A.Mey.) Bunge ex Fenzl and white saxaul, H. persicum (Bunge ex Boiss. & Buhse) (Chenopodiaceae) in Beishawo Desert in Fukang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Provided are its illustrated redescription and diagnosis, which was not included in the original escription, as well as data on the distribution and biology of this interesting, little known species. Mesopolobus deserti Dzhanokmen, which is also newly recorded from China, was swept on …

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The First Annotated Checklist Of Mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Insecta) Of Georgia With New Distribution Data And A New Record For The Country, Sophio Gabelashvili, Levan Mumladze, Ani Bikashvili, Pavel Sroka, Roman J. Godunko, Bella Japoshvili Jan 2018

The First Annotated Checklist Of Mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Insecta) Of Georgia With New Distribution Data And A New Record For The Country, Sophio Gabelashvili, Levan Mumladze, Ani Bikashvili, Pavel Sroka, Roman J. Godunko, Bella Japoshvili

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The first comprehensive checklist of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Georgia is provided based on literature data supplemented by our unpublished data, including extensive samples in 2013-2017, works with the collections and types, faunistic observations, and taxonomical contributions. Records of 75 species are provided, with one species reported as a new finding for the country. Notes about the taxonomic status of several species are given. The present contribution represents the first publication of this kind for mayflies within the whole Caucasus area.

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Benthic Invertebrates Associated With Subfossil Cold-Water Coral Frames And Hardgrounds In The Albanian Deep Waters (Adriatic Sea), Ina Nasto, Frine Cardone, Francesco Mastrototaro, Piero Panetta, Antonietta Rosso, Rosanna Sanfilippo, Marco Taviani, Angelo Tursi Jan 2018

Benthic Invertebrates Associated With Subfossil Cold-Water Coral Frames And Hardgrounds In The Albanian Deep Waters (Adriatic Sea), Ina Nasto, Frine Cardone, Francesco Mastrototaro, Piero Panetta, Antonietta Rosso, Rosanna Sanfilippo, Marco Taviani, Angelo Tursi

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The fauna collected associated with subfossil Lophelia pertusa and Dendrophyllia cornigera coral samples and hardgrounds from Albanian waters between 190?230 m is discussed. Eighty-three benthic species are recorded: 2 Foraminifera, 22 Porifera, 6 Cnidaria, 25 Mollusca, 14 Annelida, 1 Arthropoda, 12 Bryozoa, and 1 Echinodermata. Seventy-four species are new records for the poorly investigated Albanian deep waters.

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Effects Of Genetic Relatedness, Spatial Distance, And Context On Intraspecificaggression In The Red Wood Ant Formica Pratensis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Volkan Aksoy, Yilmaz Çamlitepe Jan 2018

Effects Of Genetic Relatedness, Spatial Distance, And Context On Intraspecificaggression In The Red Wood Ant Formica Pratensis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Volkan Aksoy, Yilmaz Çamlitepe

Turkish Journal of Zoology

In the present study, we tested the level of aggression of monodomous and polydomous colonies of the wood ant Formica pratensis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with a behavioral assay in nature and laboratory conditions to see if the ants from neighboring colonies are more tolerant or more aggressive to each other than those from greater distances. We also tested how context (nature and laboratory conditions) affected aggression. Our results showed that the monodomous colonies were highly aggressive to all neighboring or nonneighboring conspecifics in nature irrespective of the spatial distance. The polydomous colony showed no aggression towards neighboring conspecifics but the level …

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Lichens In The Nests Of European Starling Sturnus Vulgaris Serve A Mate Attraction Rather Than Insecticidal Function, Lucia Mariel Ibañez, Renato Andres García, Vanina Dafne Fiorini, Diego Montalti Jan 2018

Lichens In The Nests Of European Starling Sturnus Vulgaris Serve A Mate Attraction Rather Than Insecticidal Function, Lucia Mariel Ibañez, Renato Andres García, Vanina Dafne Fiorini, Diego Montalti

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The European starling Sturnus vulgaris is a hole-nesting bird in which the male builds a voluminous nest using a wide variety of materials such as twigs, grass, leaves, feathers, and lichens. The function of lichens in starling nests has not been assessed until now and we hypothesize that this material is related to a mate attraction function or is used to protect nestlings from parasites due to the presence of secondary compounds with insecticidal effects with the lichens. We aimed to identify the lichen species and frequency of lichen use in European starling nests, and to determine if the presence …

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Researchers, Not Dogs, Lack Control In An Experiment On Jealousy, Jennifer Vonk Jan 2018

Researchers, Not Dogs, Lack Control In An Experiment On Jealousy, Jennifer Vonk

Animal Sentience

Cook and colleagues (2018) have developed a clever method to measure fMRI in awake dogs in response to a number of interesting stimuli. As a result, they are able to determine neural correlates of observable behavior. They report that dogs may experience something akin to jealousy because they show greater amygdala activation in response to food being given to a fake dog versus food being placed in a bucket. However, several critical controls are missing which prevent the authors from being able to speak of jealousy.

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Dogs Aren’T Jealous – They Are Just Asking For Accurate Information, Karen L. Overall Jan 2018

Dogs Aren’T Jealous – They Are Just Asking For Accurate Information, Karen L. Overall

Animal Sentience

Awake fMRI offers us a unique opportunity to view and understand how dogs see the world and use the information in it. Given the limitations of behavioral assays and the small sample sizes inherent in these studies, labeling of patterns of canine behaviors using pop psychology terms may actually interfere with our understanding of canine brains and obscure for us a more parsimonious but exciting interpretation of canine behavior. We should use this window into how dogs think wisely.


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Situating The Study Of Jealousy In The Context Of Social Relationships, Christine E. Webb, Frans B. M. De Waal Jan 2018

Situating The Study Of Jealousy In The Context Of Social Relationships, Christine E. Webb, Frans B. M. De Waal

Animal Sentience

Whereas the feelings of other beings are private and may always remain so, emotions are simultaneously manifested in behavior, physiology, and other observables. Nonetheless, uncertainty about whether emotions can be studied adequately across species has promoted skepticism about their very presence in other parts of the animal kingdom. Studying social emotions like jealousy in the context of the social relationships in which they arise, as has been done in the case of animal empathy, may help dispel this skepticism. Empathy in other species came to be accepted partly because of the behavioral similarities between its expression in nonhuman animals and …

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The Degeneracy Of Behavior And The Rise Of Neuroimaging To Measure Affective States In Dogs, Peter F. Cook, Gregory S. Berns Jan 2018

The Degeneracy Of Behavior And The Rise Of Neuroimaging To Measure Affective States In Dogs, Peter F. Cook, Gregory S. Berns

Animal Sentience

It is gratifying and significant that so many scientists from diverse fields are arguing in-depth regarding a particularly complex set of social emotions in a non-human animal. Emotions play a fundamental role in decision making and information processing. Neuroimaging is important in understanding the cognitive and emotional worlds of non-human animals and can help measure covert emotions lacking clear behavioral correlates. Various experimental approaches could clarify the relative importance of attachment and aggression in jealousy and whether the phenomenon we measured is more akin to human envy or jealousy. Reverse inference from amygdala activation is probably justified because behavior is …

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Is Superiority A Necessary Aspect Of Cruelty?, William H. Edmondson Jan 2018

Is Superiority A Necessary Aspect Of Cruelty?, William H. Edmondson

Animal Sentience

Chapman & Huffman argue that humans inflict cruelty without apparent concern because of their categorization of the victims as inferior. The supposed inferiority of non-human animals can be argued against on the basis of documentation and analysis of behaviour. Humans continue to inflict cruelty on their own and other species. It is not obvious that a sense of superiority is a necessary aspect of cruel behaviour. Nor is it obvious that further enlightenment regarding the cognitive status of non-humans will diminish cruelty.

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Vocalizations Influence Roost-Site Selection In Overwintering Cavity-Nesting Birds In Eastern Washington, Shelby M. Hunter Jan 2018

Vocalizations Influence Roost-Site Selection In Overwintering Cavity-Nesting Birds In Eastern Washington, Shelby M. Hunter

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Primary cavity-nesting birds are keystone species because the annual tree cavities they excavate become critical habitat for other species. In eastern Washington, most primary cavity-nesting birds are year-round residents. They increase overwinter survival by night roosting in cavities and forming flocks. The timing of roost site selection can impact the quality of a roost site, thus selecting a roost site too late reduces the odds of selecting the most favorable microclimate available. Birds in flocks use alarm calls to warn of threats and contact calls to promote group cohesion. My study asks if timing of roost site selection and vocalizations …

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Assessment Of Melanistic Lesions In Smallmouth Bass ( Micropterus Dolomieu) Of The Chesapeake Bay, Usa, Kelsey T. Young Jan 2018

Assessment Of Melanistic Lesions In Smallmouth Bass ( Micropterus Dolomieu) Of The Chesapeake Bay, Usa, Kelsey T. Young

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) are an important sportfish in the Susquehanna and Potomac River Basins of the Chesapeake Bay drainage. However, population declines in portions of the Susquehanna, fish kills and reports of visible abnormalities such as melanistic spots have raised concern among the public and resource managers. Although the etiology or risk factors associated with melanistic lesions are unknown, there is a propensity to attribute the abnormality to contaminants. Melanistic lesions of smallmouth bass were assessed using histopathology and gene expression analysis to evaluate the cellular and molecular changes compared to normal skin. The prevalence of melanistic …

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Anthropocentrism As Cognitive Dissonance In Animal Research?, Ellen Furlong, Zachary Silver, Jack Furlong Jan 2018

Anthropocentrism As Cognitive Dissonance In Animal Research?, Ellen Furlong, Zachary Silver, Jack Furlong

Animal Sentience

Harmon-Jones et al. (2017) make a thought-provoking suggestion in their commentary on Zentall (2016): Overlooked biases among researchers on animal cognition might lead them to discount the traces of higher-order cognition in animals they study. We find the suggestion both philosophically important and worth further reflection for animal scientists. Harmon-Jones et al. point to two “cognitive dissonance” biases involving the clash between the common human resistance to viewing ourselves as animals/meat-eaters and how these biases might lead to discounting possible advanced cognitive performances in the animals studied. We show how these biases might appear in cognitive research generally and argue …

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Sentient Plants? Nervous Minds?, Arthur S. Reber Jan 2018

Sentient Plants? Nervous Minds?, Arthur S. Reber

Animal Sentience

The commentaries by Calvo (2018) and Mallatt & Feinberg (2017) on my 2016 target branch out from a common conceptual node like forks in a road. Calvo criticizes me for not acknowledging that plants too are likely to be sentient and claims I have fallen into the kind of category error of which I accuse others ─ a zoocentric bias that fails to grant consciousness to flora. Mallatt & Feinberg maintain that I've gone too far in granting sentience to any species that lacks a nervous system. Calvo makes some good points but there are other issues concerning plant sentience …

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