Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Experience And Body Size On Refuge Choice In The Crayfish Orconectes Immunis, Patrick S. Forsythe, Deborah S. Wyatt, Paul V. Switzer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

We investigated whether refuge size or experience with a refuge affected the refuge use of male Orconectes immunis crayfish. Individuals were given choices among seven refuges for 10 consecutive days. Refuges were formed from equal length but different diameter PVC pipe and placed in an array in a random sequence. Three treatments were used. In the Novel Refuge treatment, individuals were placed in a new test arena with a new arrangement of cleaned refuges every day. In the Nonremoval treatment, individuals were left in the same arena with the same set of refuges each day. In the Removal treatment, individuals …

Size Doesn't Matter: Microbial Selection Experiments Address Ecological Phenomena, Michael Feldgarden, Daniel M. Stoebel, Dustin Brisson, Daniel E. Dykhuizen

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Experimental evolution is relevant to ecology because it can connect physiology, and in particular metabolism, to questions in ecology. The investigation of the linkage between the environment and the evolution of metabolism is tractable because these experiments manipulate a very simple environment to produce predictable evolutionary outcomes. In doing so, microbial selection experiments can examine the causal elements of natural selection: how specific traits in varying environments will yield different fitnesses. Here, we review the methodology of microbial evolution experiments and address three issues that are relevant to ecologists: genotype-by-environment interactions, ecological diversification due to specialization, and negative frequency-dependent selection. …

Restoration Of The Red Wolf, Michael K. Phillips, V. Gary Henry, Brian T. Kelly

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

"WOLFERS" IN NORTHEASTERN North Carolina were busy on February 5, 1768. Records from the Tyrrell County courthouse read:

Giles Long and Thomas Wilkinson awarded one pound for a certified wolf scalp; Jeremiah Norman awarded two pounds for certified wolf and wild-cat scalps; Davenport Smithwick awarded one pound for a certified wolf-scalp.

Such was the nature of the war on the wolf: people killed them for money. The belief of the time held that the war was necessary because it was humankind's manifest destiny to tame the wilderness. And for the wilderness to be tame, the wolf had to be exterminated. …

Wolf-Prey Relations, L. David Mech, Rolf O. Peterson

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

AS 1 (L. o. MECH) watched from a small ski plane while fifteen wolves surrounded a moose on snowy Isle Royale, I had no idea this encounter would typify observations I would make during 40 more years of studying wolf-prey interactions.

My usual routine while observing wolves hunting was to have my pilot keep circling broadly over the scene so I could watch the wolves' attacks without disturbing any of the animals. Only this time there was no attack. The moose held the wolves at bay for about 5 minutes (fig. p), and then the pack left.

From this observation …

Ecological Games In Space And Time: The Distribution And Abundance Of Antarctic Krill And Penguins, Suzanne Alonzo, Paul Switzer, Marc Mangel

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The distribution and abundance of organisms are affected by behaviors, such as habitat selection, foraging, and reproduction. These behaviors are driven by interactions within and between species, environmental conditions, and the biology of the species in-volved. Although extensive theoretical work has explored predator–prey dynamics, these models have not considered the impact of behavioral plasticity and life-history trade-offs on predicted patterns. We apply a modeling method that allows the consideration of a spatial, dynamic ecological game between predators and prey using a life-history perspec-tive. As an illustrative example, we model the habitat selection of Antarctic krill and penguins during the time …

Utah Forest Health Report : A Baseline Assessment 1999 - 2001, Colleen Keyes, Paul Rogers, Leon Lamadeleine, Vick Applegate, Dave Atkins

The Bark Beetles, Fuels, and Fire Bibliography

This report addresses forest health in two ways: by discussion of forest-related issues and by data summaries in several appendices. FHM is a long-term monitoring program and therefore, the data presented in this report must be viewed in that light. This report presents a first-time, or baseline summary. Subsequent reports will address changes over time as plots and other detection surveys are conducted and re-measured.

Ecological Games In Space And Time: The Distribution And Abundance Of Antarctic Krill And Penguins, Suzanne H. Alonzo, Paul V. Switzer, Marc Mangel

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The distribution and abundance of organisms are affected by behaviors, such as habitat selection, foraging, and reproduction. These behaviors are driven by interactions within and between species, environmental conditions, and the biology of the species in-volved. Although extensive theoretical work has explored predator–prey dynamics, these models have not considered the impact of behavioral plasticity and life-history trade-offs on predicted patterns. We apply a modeling method that allows the consideration of a spatial, dynamic ecological game between predators and prey using a life-history perspec-tive. As an illustrative example, we model the habitat selection of Antarctic krill and penguins during the time …

An Ecosystem-Based Approach To Management: Using Individual Behaviour To Predict The Indirect Effects Of Antarctic Krill Fisheries On Penguin Foraging, Suzanne Alonzo, Paul Switzer, Marc Mangel

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Summary 1. Changes in species' abundance and distributions caused by human disturbances can have indirect effects on other species in a community. Although ecosystem approaches to management are becoming increasingly prevalent, they require a fuller understand- ing of how individual behaviour determines interactions within and between species. 2. Ecological interactions involving krill are of major importance to many species within the Antarctic. Despite extensive knowledge of the ecosystem that they occupy, there is still incomplete understanding of the links between species and the effect of environmental conditions on these interactions. In this study, we extended a behavioural model used previously …

Wild Horses And Burros In The United States, Allen T. Rutberg

State of the Animals 2003

Treatment of wild horses and burros has improved remarkably over the last fifty years. In the mid-twentieth century, free-ranging horses and burros suffered horribly at the hands of “mustangers” who captured them at will and whim, sometimes using the most brutal of techniques, including aerial pursuit and shooting or crippling key herd members. The horses were packed into livestock trucks hurt, bleeding, and exhausted, and shipped to slaughter without stopping for rest or watering (Ryden 1999). Unprotected by law, only the good will of a few ranchers protected these abused animals. Public awareness of the plight of the wild horses …

The Science And Sociology Of Hunting: Shifting Practices And Perceptions In The United States And Great Britain, John W. Grandy, Elizabeth Stallman, David W. Macdonald

State of the Animals 2003

Between the late nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries, both the rationale for and perception of hunting shifted in the United States, coinciding with demographic changes in the U.S. population (Duda 1993). Similar changes in attitude, though largely undocumented, probably occurred in the United Kingdom. (For example, foxhunting did not emerge as a substantial sport until the second half of the eighteenth century; before that, foxes were widely perceived as pests and killed whenever the opportunity arose [Marvin 2000]). Our purpose in this chapter is to compare these two countries in order to reveal some of the science and the sociology …

Nest Building In Captive Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla, Kristen E. Lukas, Tara S. Stoinski, Kyle Burks, Rebecca Snyder, Sarah Bexell, Terry L. Maple

Sentience Collection

Although various aspects of gorilla nest building have been described in wild populations, nest-building behavior of captive gorillas has not been subject to much scientific review. We observed nest building in 17 gorillas during three periods: summer baseline, winter baseline, and winter treatment, in which the amount of available nesting material was doubled. We conducted observations exclusively in the indoor holding area in the hour following evening departure of animal care staff. During baseline, gorillas engaged in nest-building on 3.1% of scans and were on a constructed nest on 27.9% of scans. Overall, gorillas spent significantly more time on elevated …

Growth And The Expression Of Alternative Life Cycles In The Salamander Ambystoma Talpoideum (Caudata: Ambystomatidae), Travis J. Ryan, Raymond D. Semlitsch

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Complex life cycles (CLCs) contain larval and adult phases that are morphologically and ecologically distinct. Simple life cycles (SLCs) have evolved from CLCs repeatedly in a wide variety of lineages but the processes that may underlie the transition have rarely been identified or investigated experimentally. We examined the influence of larval growth rate on the facultative expression of alternative life cycles (metamorphosis or maturation as gill-bearing adults [= paedomorphosis]) in the salamander Ambystoma talpoideum. We manipulated growth rates by altering the amount of food individuals received throughout larval development. The expression of alternative life cycles in A. talpoideum is influenced …

Subterranean Biodiversity Of Arkansas, Part 1: Bioinventory And Bioassessment Of Caves In The Sylamore Ranger District, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas, G. O. Graening, Michael E. Slay, Karen K. Tinkle

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Inventory and assessment of subterranean ecosystems of the Sylamore Ranger District (within Baxter, Marion, Searcy, and Stone counties) Ozark National Forest, was performed 2000 to 2002. The Sylamore District, completely underlaid in karst topography (occurring in Mississippian to Ordovician carbonates), contains approximately 10% of the known caves in Arkansas. Thirty-five sites were inventoried, six of which were sampled for environmental quality. These were combined and analyzed with previous studies, creating a database of 1,238 total species occurrences, 230 species, and 61 total sites. Most common were cave crickets, pipistrelle bats, woodrats, mosquitoes, and spiders. Fourteen species obligate to coves or …

Investigation Of Matrilineal Relationships Via Mitochondrial Dna In The Southeastern Yellowjacket (Vespula Squamosa), Anthony Deets

Masters Theses

The question of whether and how apparently "altruistic" behaviors can evolve in social animals has received an enormous amount of attention from evolutionary biologists and has been termed "the central theoretical problem of sociobiology". Thus, recent interest is eusocial species with coexisting multiple queens stems from the realization that the genetic relatedness of individuals in such colonies presents additional theoretical challenges beyond those addressed by the Hamiltonian model of kin selection and lengthens the potential list of reproductive conflicts of interest.

The Southeastern Yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa) exhibits two social forms sympatrically in the southern parts of its range. These two …

Nest-Site Selection In The Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene Carolina Carolina, In A Population In Central Illinois, Beth Flitz

Masters Theses

Nest site selection in turtles might allow females to increase the survival of their offspring but little is known about the variables that influence that choice. I examined the microhabitat variables at nest sites of the eastern box turtle, Terrapene carolina carolina, at a Boy Scout camp in Shelby County, Illinois, to determine if females chose nest sites that differed from random sites within the camp. Nest sites differed from random sites in vegetation height and composition, percentage ground and canopy cover, and light intensity. All females placed their nests in open habitat within the camp or a pasture bordering …

The Recovery Of Birds Through Farmland Revegetation In The Shire Of Goomalling, Western Australia, Rebecca Heath

Theses : Honours

The birds of grazed paddocks, early revegetation (less than three years in age), three to seven year old revegetation, older revegetation (greater than seven years in age) and remnant vegetation were surveyed over the course of one year to determine whether revegetation recovers avian biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Habitat features that were useful to the birds, and those that were missing from revegetation, were identified in order to broaden the knowledge base of faunal use of farmland revegetation, and aid in the devising of successful revegetation strategies. Notable differences in the abundance and composition of birds were found between the …

Winter 2003, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Wolves And Humans, Steven H. Fritts, Robert O. Stephenson, Robert D. Hayes, Luigi Boitani

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

TRY TO IMAGINE a small group of wolves sitting at a table engaged in vigorous debate. These wolves are from various parts of the globe and are perhaps a bit more scholarly than most. In fact, they are especially knowledgeable about the biology of that notorious two-legged species, Homo sapiens. They have been brought together to document their relationship with humans over the last several millennia. Pause for a few moments and consider what they might say ...

Perhaps the wolves' discussion would chronicle the evils of the human species, including details of atrocities committed against lupine ancestors down …

Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, And Conservation: Photo Section I, Douglas W. Smith, Rolf Peterson, L. David Mech, Barron Crawford

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Wolves in Yellowstone National Park's restored population often must compete with grizzly bears at the carcasses of their kills. Especially after their first feeding at a kill, wolves tend to relinquish their kills to bears. Photograph by Doug Smith.

Elk are one of the most common prey of wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains of North America, primarily because in most areas they tend to outnumber other prey. This large bull standing his ground escaped this pack. Photograph by Doug Smith.

Survival Of The Western Pond Turtle (Emys Marmorata) In An Urban California Environment, Phillip Q. Spinks, Gregory B. Pauly, John J. Crayon, H. Bradley Shaffer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The western pond turtle Emys (formerly Clemmys marmorata) is declining throughout its range, primarily due to loss of habitat via urbanization and conversion to agriculture. Urban waterways present several important challenges to freshwater turtle populations, but they also present an opportunity to maintain declining species in a ubiquitous habitat that has high public visibility. The arboretum waterway on the University of California, Davis campus is an example of an extensively altered urban habitat that supports a relatively large E. marmorata population. Over the last 6 years, we monitored the turtle population inhabiting the arboretum waterway to determine the …

Infant Mortality After Takeovers In Wild Ethiopian Hamadryas Baboons, Larissa Swedell, Teklu Tesfaye

Publications and Research

In this paper, we report the first observational evidence of infanticide in wild hamadryas baboons. The study group inhabits the lowlands of the northern Rift Valley in Ethiopia and has been under observation for over 1200 hours, on and off, since October 1996. Here we report observations from August and September 2002 of the consequences of two takeovers of known females with black infants. After the first takeover, the respective infant disappeared and was presumed dead within eleven days of the takeover. After the second takeover, the infant incurred repeated severe aggression from its mother’s new leader male and eventually …

The Effect Of Aposematic Coloration On The Food Preference Of Aphelocoma Coerulescens, The Florida Scrub Jay, Mary Elizabeth Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Aposematic coloration, commonly observed in noxious organisms, serves as a warning to predators to avoid attacking specific prey. This coloration is conspicuous in nature, with one of the most common examples being a red and black pattern. The plant Abrus precatorius exhibits this warning signal in its seeds, which resemble lady beetles and contain the concentrated toxin abrin. Aphelocoma coerulescens, an endemic and federally threatened bird in the state of Florida, shares a similar distribution with Abrus precatorius, making interaction between the two species possible. Using an edible model of the Abrus seed, this potential interaction was tested in Martin …

Human Health Effects Of A Changing Global Nitrogen Cycle, Alan R. Townsend, Robert W. Howarth, Fakhri A. Bazzaz, Mary S. Booth, Cory C. Cleveland, Sharon K. Collinge, Andrew P. Dobson, Paul R. Epstein, Elisabeth A. Holland, Dennis R. Keeney, Michael A. Mallin, Christine A. Rogers, Peter Wayne, Amir H. Wolfe

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications

Changes to the global nitrogen cycle affect human health well beyond the associated benefits of increased food production. Many intensively fertilized crops become animal feed, helping to create disparities in world food distribution and leading to unbalanced diets, even in wealthy nations. Excessive air- and water-borne nitrogen are linked to respiratory ailments, cardiac disease, and several cancers. Ecological feedbacks to excess nitrogen can inhibit crop growth, increase allergenic pollen production, and potentially affect the dynamics of several vector-borne diseases, including West Nile virus, malaria, and cholera. These and other examples suggest that our increasing production and use of fixed nitrogen …

Assessment Of Potential Environmental Impacts Of Nature-Based Tours Originating Within Clark County, Nevada, Beth Domowicz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this thesis was to assess the potential magnitude of negative environmental damage of nature-based tours originating in Clark County, Nevada. An ordinal ranking system was used for assessment of five variables. These variables were resource use, noise pollution, soil degradation, vegetation degradation, and wildlife disturbance. There were two proposed answers. The first was that as distance increased, negative tour impact would increase. This was not supported, since tours had high impacts for destinations that were close by and far away. The second was that most tours were not causing high damage to the environment. This hypothesis was …

A Monographic Revision Of The Genus Platycoelia Dejean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Anoplognathini), Andrew B. T. Smith

Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum (1924–2023)

This paper presents a taxonomic revision of the genus Platycoelia Dejean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Anoplognathini: Platycoeliina). Phylogenetic analyses of all species in the genus were conducted and the biogeography of the genus is discussed. The phylogenetic analysis supports the monophyly of Platycoelia and divides the genus into four major clades. Based on the cladistic analysis, the generic names Callichloris Burmeister, Leucopelaea Bates, and Epicallichloris Gutiérrez are considered synonyms of Platycoelia. Character states supporting monophyletic clades are discussed. Descriptions and keys to all taxa are included.

The genus Platycoelia was revised and now includes 62 species, 19 of which are described …

The Tadpole Of Phrynobatrachus Mababiensis Fitzsimons, 1932 (Anura, Ranidae, Petropedetinae), Rafael O. De Sá, Alan Channing

Biology Faculty Publications

The puddle frog genus Phrynobatrachus Günther, 1862 comprises about 64 currently recognized species (Frost, 1985). Of these, only the tadpoles of P. natalensis (Smith, 1849) (Power, 1927; Channing, 2001), P. guineensis Guibé & Lamotte, 1961(Rödel,1998) and P. alticola Guibé & Lamotte, 1961 (Rödel & Ernst, 2002) have been described. Phrynobatrachus mababiensis FitzSimons, 1932 (Dwarf Puddle frog, Wager, 1986; Mababe River frog, Frank & Ramus, 1996) is a small frog that usually calls from low in thick vegetation on flooded terrains close to the water. Very little has been published about the biology of this species. Passmore & Carruthers (1979) reported …

Contributions To Creation Theory From The Study Of Nature, L. James Gibson

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Introduction, L. David Mech, Luigi Boitani

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

THE WOLF IS TRULY a special animal. As the most widely distributed of all land mammals, the wolf, formally the gray wolf (Canis lupus), is also one of the most adaptable. It inhabits all the vegetation types of the Northern Hemisphere and preys on all the large mammals living there. It also feeds on all the other animals in its environment, scavenges, and can even eat fruits and berries. Wolves frequent forests and prairies, tundra, barren ground, mountains, deserts, and swamps. Some wolves even visit large cities, and, of course, the wolf's domesticated version, the dog, thrives in …

Wolf Social Ecology, L. David Mech, Luigi Boitani

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

THE FIRST REAL BEGINNING to our understanding of wolf social ecology came from wolf 2204 on 23 May 1972. State depredation control trapper Lawrence Waino, of Duluth, Minnesota, had caught this female wolf 112 km ( 67 mi) south of where L. D. Mech had radio-collared her in the Superior National Forest 2 years earlier. A young lone wolf, nomadic over 100 km² (40 mi²) during the 9 months Mech had been able to keep track of her, she had then disappeared until Waino caught her. From her nipples it was apparent that she had just been …

References, L. David Mech, Luigi Boitani

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Abrams, P. A. 2000. The evolution of predator-prey interactions. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 31:79-105.

Abuladze, K. I. 1964. Osnovy Tsestodologii. Vol. IV. Teniatylentochnye gel' minty zhivotnykh i cheloveka i vyzyvaevaniia. Nauka, Moscow. 530 pp.

Achuff, P. L., and R. Petocz. 1988. Preliminary resource inventory of the Arjin Mountains Nature Reserve, Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. World Wide Fund for Nature, Gland, Switzerland. 78 pp.

Ackerman, B. B., F. A. Leban, M. D. Samuel, and E. 0. Garton. 1990. User's manual for program Home Range. 2d ed. Technical Report no. 15. Forestry, Wildlife, and Range Experiment Station, University ofldaho, Moscow.

Acorn, …