Digital Commons Network^™

Movement And Habitat Use Of Two Aquatic Turtles (Graptemys Geographic And Trachemys Scripta) In An Urban Landscape, Travis J. Ryan, C A. Conner, B A. Douthitt, S C. Sterrett, Carmen M. Salsbury

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Our study focuses on the spatial ecology and seasonal habitat use of two aquatic turtles in order to understand the manner in which upland habitat use by humans shapes the aquatic activity, movement, and habitat selection of these species in an urban setting. We used radiotelemetry to follow 15 female Graptemys geographica (common map turtle) and each of ten male and female Trachemys scripta (red-eared slider) living in a man-made canal within a highly urbanized region of Indianapolis, IN, USA. During the active season (between May and September) of 2002, we located 33 of the 35 individuals a total of …

Extreme Primary And Secondary Protein Structure Variability In The Chimeric Male-Transmitted Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit Ii Protein In Freshwater Mussels: Evidence For An Elevated Amino Acid Substitution Rate In The Face Of Domain-Specific Purifying Selection, Eric G. Chapman, Helen Piontkivska, Jennifer M. Walker, Donald T. Stewart, Jason P. Curole, Walter R. Hoeh

Faculty Publications

Background

Freshwater unionoidean bivalves, and species representing two marine bivalve orders (Mytiloida and Veneroida), exhibit a mode of mtDNA inheritance involving distinct maternal (F) and paternal (M) transmission routes concomitant with highly divergent gender-associated mtDNA genomes. Additionally, male unionoidean bivalves have a ~550 bp 3' coding extension to the cox2 gene (Mcox2e), that is apparently absent from all other metazoan taxa.

Results

Our molecular sequence analyses of MCOX2e indicate that both the primary and secondary structures of the MCOX2e region are evolving much faster than other regions of the F and M COX2-COX1 gene …

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Annual Report, Period Ending May 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Hiring: Limnologist Dr. Wai Hing (David) Wong was hired and officially reported to work on 5/15/2008.

Project 1 and Project 2: Dr. Wong has commenced work on Projects 1 and 2.

Project 3: Dr. Wong has commenced work on Project 3. A comprehensive zebra/quagga mussel bibliography has been completed and published to the 100th Meridian Web site. Six interagency, multi-disciplinary quagga mussel meetings have been held. A quagga mussel substrate project has been initiated and, through the coordination efforts of this project, two other studies have been selected and refined to help determine the ecological impacts of quagga mussel infestation …

The Reproductive Ecology Of Graptemys Geographica In The Central Canal, Kati Keppen Rush

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Life for all organisms involves carefully managing a limited amount of resources. In many cases these resources affect how organisms Jive on a daily basis. In addition to competition from other species, organisms face competition within their own species, populations, and niches. Those individuals that manage their resources effectively will increase their chances of survival, reproduction, and the continuation of their genes in the gene pool. Studies that focus on life history characteristics of organisms aim to understand the mechanisms used by organisms to increase the chances that their genes will remain in thegenepoolpasttheirown Iifetime.Thegoal ofthesemechanisms istoensuresurvival and maximize reproduction. …

Gender-Specific Differences In Spatial Behavior Of The Flesh Fly, Sarcophaga Crassipalpis., Caleb Joseph Paquette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Territoriality in the flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) was studied in the laboratory. In rectangular enclosures, male flies exhibited a lower tolerance (occupation of the same physical space) of same-sex conspecifics than did female flies. In circular arenas, male flies showed significantly higher levels of spatial separation among themselves (as determined from nearest neighbor analyses) than did females: males were distributed uniformly whereas females were nearly random. The male spatial behavior occurred during the photophase but not the scotophase of light-dark cycles, suggesting that visual cues are required for maintenance of inter-individual spacing. No significant differences in male spacing …

The Spatial Memory Of African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana): Durability, Interference, And Response Biases, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Women and elephants never forget an injury.

-Saki (H. H. Munro), "Reginald on besetting sins," in Reginald (1904)

I am not sure whether the satirist H. H. Munro believed Saki's claim, although it may well be true (at least with regard to elephants). This chapter will examine some characteristics of elephant memory more systematically than did Saki.

In general, it is to an animal's advantage to remember some aspects (usually the stable features) of a situation for long periods and to remember other aspects (usually the unstable features) only temporarily. Consistent with recent arguments questioning the value of cognitive constructs …

Evaluating Vascular Plant Composition And Species Richness On Horn Island, Mississippi, Using Passive And Active Remote Sensing In Conjunction With Ground Based Measurements, Kelly Lynn Lucas

Dissertations

Barrier island vegetation is subjected to chronic abiotic stressors combined with periodic storm events that favor species adapted to harsh environments. These islands are the first landforms to be affected by changes in coastal subsidence and sea-level rise. Evaluating changes in vegetation is important for understanding the impact of global climate change on coastal environments.

This study assesses vegetation composition and plant species richness on Horn Island, Mississippi using ground data in conjunction with remotely sensed spectral and LIDAR data. The goals of this research are to: 1) classify and map vegetation composition on Horn Island using hyperspectral and LIDAR …

Foraging Ecology Of Seabirds In Relation To Commercial Shrimp Trawler Activity, Lisa Wickliffe

All Theses

Population dynamics of seabirds have been linked to the availability of bycatch discarded from commercial fishery operations. This issue has been examined primarily in Europe where studies demonstrated that tens of thousands of seabirds each year may be supported by discards from a regional fishery, and that discards from commercial fisheries contributed to the increase in seabird abundance and to changes in their distribution in the North Sea and Northeast Atlantic. To date, however, little to no research has been conducted on seabird-fisheries interactions in the United States. This research examined this issue in the coastal waters of South Carolina …

The Effects Of Land Use On Sedimentation, Inorganic Substrate, Organic Substrate, And Fish Assemblages In South Carolina's Coastal Plain Streams, Cathy Marion

All Theses

This research is part of a larger, long-term assessment of South Carolina's wadeable streams funded by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources entitled the 'South Carolina Stream Assessment Project'. Biological, physical, and chemical data were collected for this project during the summer seasons of 2006 and 2007. The purpose of this research was to identify relationships among land use, sedimentation, organic substrate, and fish assemblages in three South Carolina coastal plain ecobasins. An additional focus was to determine if South Carolina coastal plain ecobasins were similar enough in species composition, environmental variables, land use, and measured fish metrics to …

Ontogenetic Effects Of Hatching Plasticity In The Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma Maculatum) Due To Egg And Larval Predators, Leah Brown-Wilusz

Honors Scholar Theses

The ability to respond plastically to the environment has allowed amphibians to evolve a response to spatial and temporal variation in predation threat (Benard 2004). Embroys exposed to egg predation are expected to hatch out earlier than their conspecifics. Larval predation can induce a suite of phenotypic changes including growing a larger tail area. When presented with cues from both egg and larval predators, embryos are expected to respond to the egg predator by hatching out earlier because the egg predator presents an immediate threat. However, hatching early may be costly in the larval environment in terms of development, morphology, …

Conservation Implications Of Winter-Feeding Policies For Mule Deer In Utah, Chris C. Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Policies regulating wildlife winter-feeding programs may have long-term impacts on conservation and future management of both target and non-target species. In 2000, the Utah Wildlife Board, upon reviewing input from a series of public regional meetings, adopted a Utah Big Game Winter-Feeding Policy. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources used this policy to regulate winter-feeding programs for mule deer in northern Utah, 2001-2005. I monitored the program effects on mule deer biology, activity and migration, and winter browse utilization and productivity.

While feed rations generally compensated for protein and energy deficiencies, they may overlook mineral deficiencies. To determine if mule …

Influential Parasites: Importance Of Haemosporidian Parasite Infection In The White-Throated Sparrow, Amanda P. Jamison

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of parasite-mediated selection, as originally postulated by Hamilton and Zuk ( 1982) in birds is an area of intense study as it allows us to test the significance of the relationship between host and parasite. Recent developments of resistance to treatments in humans for parasite induced disease, creates a place for this important research and emphasizes the need to find the connections and interactions in this relationship between ecology and infectious disease. The development of new molecular techniques has made the study of parasitism in birds and mammals easier and provides an efficient sensitive . methodology to detect …

Roosting Ecology Of Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat, Corynorhinus Rafinesquii, In Southeastern Mississippi, Austin Webb Trousdale Iii

Dissertations

Rafinesque's big-eared bat, Corynorhinus rafinesquii, is considered rare and/or declining throughout its range. Concrete bridges are potentially important roosts for C. rafinesquii, especially in the Gulf Coastal Plain where the species' natural roosts (caves and large hollow trees) are inherently scarce. Successful efforts to monitor and conserve this species must account for its movements among multiple roosts and determine the duration of its roost use (including bridges) at different temporal scales. Therefore, I investigated roosting ecology of C. rafinesquii from 2000-2005 within a mixed hardwood-pine (Pinus spp.) system in southeastern Mississippi. I conducted surveys of concrete bridges to determine phenological …

Law, Biology, And Property: A New Theory Of The Endowment Effect, Owen D. Jones, Sarah F. Brosnan

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Recent work at the intersection of law and behavioral biology has suggested numerous contexts in which legal thinking could benefit by integrating knowledge from behavioral biology. In one of those contexts, behavioral biology may help to provide theoretical foundation for, and potentially increased predictive power concerning, various psychological traits relevant to law. This Article describes an experiment that explores that context.

The paradoxical psychological bias known as the endowment effect puzzles economists, skews market behavior, impedes efficient exchange of goods and rights, and thereby poses important problems for law. Although the effect is known to vary widely, there are at …

Granivores And Restoration: Implications Of Invasion And Considerations Of Context-Dependent Seed Removal, Steven M. Ostoja

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Granivores are important components of sagebrush communities in western North America. These same regions are being altered by the invasion of the exotic annual Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) that alters physical and biological dynamics in ways that appear to promote its persistence. This research directly relates to the restoration of B. tectorum-dominated systems in two inter-related ways. First, because these landscapes have large quantities of seeds applied during restoration, it is important to determine the major granivore communities in intact sagebrush communities and in nearby cheatgrass-dominated communities. Second, it is important to develop an understanding of patterns of seed harvest …

Detritus Type Alters The Outcome Of Interspecific Competition Between Aedes Aegypti And Aedes Albopictus (Diptera : Culicidae), Ebony G. Murrell, Steven A. Juliano

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Many studies of interspecific competition between Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) larvae show that Ae. albopictus are superior resource competitors to Ae. aegypti. Single-species studies indicate that growth and survival of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti larvae are affected by the type of detritus present in containers, which presumably affects the amount and quality of microorganisms that the mosquito larvae consume. We tested whether different detritus types alter the intensity of larval competition by raising 10 different density/species combinations of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti larvae under standard laboratory conditions, with one of four detritus types …

Bat Community Dynamics And Foraging Activity Patterns In Young Regenerating Southern Pine Plantations And Mixed Hardwood Forests, Kathryn Marie Womack

Theses & Honors Papers

Forests of the southeastern U.S. are changing rapidly in species composition and extent of forest cover due to increasing conversion to pine (Pinus sp.) plantations , intensifying management practices, and expanding urbanization and sprawl. Questions related to the impacts of these changes on wild life species are of great conservation interest and management relevance. Highly mobile species with large home ranges and complex habitat requirements , such as bats, may be especially vulnerable to increasing human modification of landscapes. However, the impacts of such modifications on bat species are poorly understood . I sought to evaluate bat community structure and …

Prey Selectivity Of Planktivorous Fish: Analysis Of Stomach Contents In Four Pomacentrids At Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, James O'Hare

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coral reef planktivores are important to coral reefs by concentrating and delivering nutrients and allochthonous carbon from the plankton to reef building corals. In an otherwise very oligotrophic system this function may be of major importance. Planktivorous Damselfish (Pomicentridae) were analysed for prey selectivity through enumeration of stomach contents. Simultaneous plankton tows were conducted to establish the plankton community composition of the waters they were taken from. There was a statistically significant variation between the stomach composition and that of the water column. While there was not a significant difference among Simpson’s diversity indices of the stomach contents, there was …

Effects Of Gregariousness, Conspicuousness, And Novelty On Blue Jay (Cyanocitta Cristata) Learned Avoidance And Stimulus Generalization Of Unpalatable Prey, Joyce M. Dykema

Avian Cognition Papers

I examined a variety of factors hypothesized to be important in the evolution and maintenance of aposematism. Aposematism occurs when prey individuals advertise their toxic or otherwise aversive nature to potential predators via evolved conspicuous signals. I conducted three experiments in which blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) were allowed to search a printed grayscale pixilated background for grayscale pixilated moths in an open room. I manipulated moth appearance and food reward, and recorded jay predation on the varying moth stimuli. In my first experiment, I repeated Alatalo & Mappes’ (1996) study examining the effects of prey gregariousness, or grouping, …

Spring 2008, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

A New Reproductive Mode In The Genus Melanzophryniscus Gallardo, 1961 (Anura: Bufonidae) With Description Of A New Species From The State Of Paraná, Brazil, José A. Langone, Magno V. Segallo, Marcos Bornschein, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

A new species of bufonid toad of the genus Melanophryniscus is described from a mountaintop that is part of the Serra do Mar in the northeastern State of Paraná, Brazil. Melanophryniscus alipioi sp. nov. is distinguished from other known species by its uniformly dark brown dorsal color and a unique breeding site. The new species reproduces in bromeliads, a reproductive mode previously unknown for this genus. This species might be susceptible to current habitat lost.

Factors Affecting Road Mortality Of Whitetailed Deer In Eastern South Dakota, Troy W. Grovenburg, Jonathan A. Jenks, Robert W. Klaver, Kevin L. Monteith, Dwight H. Galster, Ron J. Schauer, Wilbert M. Morlock, Joshua A. Delger

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) mortalities (n = 4,433) caused by collisions with automobiles during 2003 were modeled in 35 counties in eastern South Dakota. Seventeen independent variables and 5 independent variable interactions were evaluated to explain deer mortalities. A negative binomial regression model (Ln Y = 1.25 – 0.12 [percentage tree coverage] + 0.0002 [county area] + 5.39 [county hunter success rate] + 0.0023 [vehicle proxy 96–104 km/hr roads], model deviance = 33.43, χ2 = 27.53, df = 27) was chosen using a combination of a priori model selection and AICc. Management options include use of the model to predict …

Aquatic And Terrestrial Habitat Use Of The Australian Freshwater Turtle, Chelodina Expansa, Ellyn Ercolano

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Organisms select habitats that provide the best possible resources necessary to their survival. Organisms may occupy and utilize a home range which requires specific selection of components in their available habitat. Monitoring the threats to a species within their habitats is a crucial tool in conservation and management practices. The Murray-Darling Basin of south-eastern Australia has suffered alterations to its hydrology, flow regime, catchment size and usage, flooding cycles, as well as from vast removal of vegetation in the floodplains since European settlement in Australia in the mid-nineteenth century. Knowledge of the habitat use of a focal species can guide …

The Horseshoe Crab Conundrum: Can We Harvest And Conserve?, Jennifer Mattei, Mark Beekey

Biology Faculty Publications

Horeshoe crabs "Limulus polyphemus" are remarkable ‘living fossils’ which have unique blood cells (amebocytes) that are used to test human vaccines for bacterial contamination. In the 1950’s, scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, not only discovered amebocytes but also found that they had special properties. If the amebocytes came into contact with bacteria, they would instantly coagulate around the bacteria and attack it. The Woods Hole scientists took this unique property of horseshoe crabs and developed a test for bacterial contamination using a horseshoe crab blood derivative called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL).

This article describes discusses …

Spatial And Trophic Dynamics Of A Macrofaunal Community On A High Energy Intertidal Sandflat, Sharon Ann Tatem

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Spatial and trophic interactions between macrofaunal species were studied in a high energy intertidal system during spring-summer low tides. Bioturbation by the enteropneust hemichordate, Balanoglossus aurantiacus (Girad), as evidenced by large fecal mounds, was a conspicuous feature on the sandflat Sediment characteristics were compared between ambient (non-fecal) and B. aurantiacus fecal mound types (fresh-oxidized, fresh-reduced, aged-oxidized, and aged-reduced). Fecal material was differentiated by age based on the presence or absence of mucus and the time of fecal deposition. The color of fecal material was used to assign oxidative state. Multiple isotopes (carbon, nitrogen, sulfur) were used to determine the origins …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Monitoring And Evaluation Of Sensitive Wildlife: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending March 31, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Wildlife Monitoring

Project 1. Relict Leopard Frog Monitoring, Management, and Research

• Translocation program initiated this quarter, egg mass collections completed, tadpole rearing underway.
• Egg mass surveys at Blue Point Spring conducted approximately weekly; one egg mass collected from site for headstarting.
• Spring nocturnal surveys in progress.
• Coordination for potential translocation sites on BLM lands ongoing.
• Habitat improvements coordinated and conducted at one new translocation site on BLM lands in the Gold Butte; site scheduled to receive frogs in April.
• All milestones and deliverables associated with the MSHCP project on schedule.

Project 2. Bald Eagle Winter Monitoring and Evaluation

• Winter bald eagle count …

Comparing Sulfur Transformations In Surface Soils Of Chattanooga Wetlands With Different Land Use Histories, Michael Mentz

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess whether high sulfur inputs in a local wetland had an effect on the functions of this wetland, i.e. an increased sulfate reduction rate and an increased sulfate concentration compared to a control wetland. Sulfate reduction rates were compared in two wetlands in Chattanooga, Tennessee during July and December 2007.These wetlands were known to have bad different histories of sulfur input via sulfates in precipitation or runoff.Through use of a 35S tracer technique, overall sulfate reduction rates could be compared for the two wetlands.Replicated sediment cores were collected from each wetland on the …

The Tempo And Mode Of Three‐Dimensional Morphological Evolution In Male Reproductive Structures, Mark A. Mcpeek, Li Shen, John Z. Torrey, Hany Farid

Dartmouth Scholarship

Various evolutionary forces may shape the evolution of traits that influence the mating decisions of males and females. Phe- notypic traits that males and females use to judge the species identify of potential mates should evolve in a punctuated fashion, changing significantly at the time of speciation but changing little between speciation events. In contrast, traits experiencing sexual selection or sexually antagonistic interactions are generally expected to change continuously over time because of the directional selection pressures imposed on one sex by the actions of the other. To test these hy- potheses, we used spherical harmonic representations of the shapes …

West Nile Virus Antibodies In Breeding North Dakota Icterids, Jennifer L. Newbrey, Wendy L. Reed

The Prairie Naturalist

Exotic infectious diseases can have devastating effects on the distribution and abundance ofnaYve wildlife species (Friend et al. 2001). West Nile Virus (WNV) is an exotic disease that was introduced into North America in 1999 and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of birds (Marra et al. 2004). The natural cycle of WNV involves Culex spp. mosquitoes as principle vectors and birds as principle hosts, although humans, horses, and other mammals can become incidental hosts (Lanciotti et al. 2000). Because the virus can be fatal, outbreaks have become a national health concern for the human population, an …

The Prairie Naturalist. Volume 40, No. 112 March/June 2008, The Great Plains Natural Science Society

The Prairie Naturalist

LOW REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF MALLARDS IN A GRASSLAND-DOMINATED LANDSCAPE IN THE SANDHILLS OF NEBRASKA. J. A. Walker, Z. J. Cunningham, M. P. Vrtiska, S. E. Stephens, and L. A. Powell

USE OF PASSIVE INTEGRATED TRANSPONDERS IN HATCHLING TEXAS HORNED LIZARDS. S. E. Henke

INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND DISCHARGE ON REPRODUCTIVE TIMING OF COMMON CARP IN A NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS RIVER. T. Resseguie and S. Kelsch

RAPTOR USE OF ARTIFICIAL PERCHES AT NATURAL AREAS, CITY OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO. G. Witmer, M. Pipas, P. Burke, D. Rouse, D. Dees, and K. Manci

WEST NILE VIRUS ANTIBODIES IN BREEDING NORTH DAKOTA ICTERIDS. …