Digital Commons Network^™

Chapter 4 - Adaptive Strategies, Janice M. Glime

Bryophyte Ecology Volume 1: Physiological Ecology

Explore the contents of Bryophyte Ecology, Volume 1, Chapter 4 - Adaptive Strategies by clicking the links above. For the Contents section of this ebook, as well as Volumes 1 through 5, please visit the Bryophyte Ecology Main Page.

Use CTRL+F to easily search within PDF files.

Ebook sponsored by Michigan Technological University and the International Association of Bryologists.

What Should Go In A Wildlife Professional’S Geospatial Toolbox? (Response Data), William Bean, Ryan C. Baumbusch, Brooke Berger, Matthew Delheimer, Lee J. Hecker, Matthew Lau, Megan C. Milligan

Research Data Sets

Geospatial tools have become a critical component to most wildlife studies and management questions. With a diversity of approaches available, current and future wildlife professionals deserve guidance on the most important tools to answer these questions. Younger professionals may be expected to know a separate set of skills from those required further on in their career. We conducted an online survey and a year-long search of job advertisements to identify the most important geospatial approaches, techniques, programs, and ancillary skills for wildlife professionals. We provide the results of these 2 efforts so that wildlife professionals interested in geospatial tools can …

Quantifying And Simulating Fine-Scale Spatial Patterns In Plant Populations, Darin Schulte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plant ecology as a discipline has increasingly acknowledged the importance of fine-scale spatial patterns in developing our understanding of community/population dynamics. These spatial patterns are largely determined by direct and indirect interactions between plants and their immediate neighbors. Such interactions thus play an important role in the structure and function of plant communities. Study of these types of local interactions has greatly benefitted from simulation based approaches. one such simulation method, agent-based modeling, has increasingly been identified as a useful tool for simulating these fine-scale interactions, and for investigating theoretical descriptions of underlying processes. Similarly, statistical techniques aimed at quantifying …

Pseudoalteromonas Piratica Sp. Nov., A Budding, Prosthecate Bacterium From Diseased Montipora Capitata, And Emended Description Of The Genus Pseudoalteromonas, Silvia Beurmann, Blake Ushijima, Christina M. Svoboda, Patrick Videau, Ashley M. Smith, Stuart P. Donachie, Greta S. Aeby, Sean M. Callahan

Research & Publications

A Gram-stain-negative, motile, rod-shaped bacterium designated OCN003T was cultivated from mucus taken from a diseased colony of the coral Montipora capitata in Kāne‘ohe Bay, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Colonies of OCN003T were pale yellow, 1–3 mm in diameter, convex, smooth and entire. The strain was heterotrophic, strictly aerobic and strictly halophilic. Cells of OCN003T produced buds on peritrichous prosthecae. Growth occurred within the pH range of 5.5 to 10, and the temperature range of 14 to 39 °C. Major fatty acids were 16 : 1!7c, 16 : 0, 18 : 1!7c, 17 : 1!8c, 12 : 0 3-OH and 17 : 0. …

Patch-Occupancy Survey Of Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) Surrounding Livingstone, Zambia, David Youldon, Jackie Abell, Joanne Briffitt, Bruce A. Schulte

Biology Faculty Publications

Wild elephants represent the biggest human–wildlife conflict issue in Livingstone, Zambia. However, little is known about their movements. This survey investigated elephants’ habitat use outside a core protected and fenced zone that forms part of Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, Zambia. Using ‘patch-occupancy’ methodology, indications of elephant presence (feeding behaviour, dung and tracks) were surveyed. The survey aimed to assist proposed future monitoring exercises by defining the geographical extent that should be considered to improve accuracy in species abundance estimates. Results were supplemented using collected indications of elephant presence from prior monitoring exercises, and during this survey. Elephant presence was confirmed up …

Time Of Plant Establishment Affects Prairie Composition, Aleisa Labelle

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Mapping The Missouri, Becca Krasky

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Searching For The False Map Turtle, Shay Austin

Sustainable RIVER

No abstract provided.

Komarekiella Atlantica Gen. Et Sp. Nov. (Nostocaceae, Cyanobacteria): A New Subaerial Taxon From The Atlantic Rainforest And Kauai, Hawaii, Jeffrey R. Johansen, Guilherme Scotta Hentschke, Nicole Pietrasiak, Janaina Rigonato, Marli F. Fiore, Célia Leite Sant’Anna

2017 Faculty Bibliography

Six strains of Cyanobacteria sampled in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest and one strain from Kauai, Hawaii, were studied using morphological and molecular approaches, including 16S rRNA gene phylogenies and 16S–23S ITS secondary structures, and are herein described as Komarekilla atlantica gen. et sp. nov.. Morphologically they are similar to Nostoc, Desmonostoc, Halotia, and Mojavia and indistinguishable from Chlorogloeopsis. The parsimony and Bayesian phylogenies of the 16S rDNA show that these strains are close to nostocacean strains, in strongly supported clades and separated from all other genera. The secondary structures of the 16S–23S ITS were very consistent between strains of K. …

Raising Consciousness About Chicken Consciousness, Bernard Rollin

Animal Sentience

The topics explored by Marino are definitive, and should work well to lay to rest forever the widespread belief that chickens have no personality, are unintelligent, or in any other way lack a mental life.

Chickens’ Brains, Like Ours, Are Lateralized, Lesley J. Rogers

Animal Sentience

This commentary draws attention to yet another attribute that has been instrumental in demonstrating the cognitive abilities of domestic chicks: lateralization of brain function. The discovery of lateralization in domestic chicks was part of the first evidence showing that humans are not unique in this respect. The effects on cognitive ability of sensory stimulation in critical stages of development have implications for the welfare of chicks, as well as other species.

Are Chicken Minds Special?, Rafael Freire, Susan J. Hazel

Animal Sentience

The number of publications on chicken cognition and emotion exceeds that on most birds and is comparable to the number of publications on some more “advanced” mammals. We argue that the chicken is an excellent model for this type of research because of (1) the presence of well-established fundamental mental processes in the chicken, (2) a challenging ethological environment and (3) social pressures that may have facilitated the evolution of cognitive abilities similar to those of some mammals. Marino’s (2017) review provides an excellent foundation for the continued study of complex mental abilities in this species.

In Memory Of Patrick Bateson, James A. Serpell

Animal Sentience

No abstract provided.

Chickening Out Of Change: Will Knowing More About Thinking Chickens Change Public Perceptions?, Ewan Bottomley, Steve Loughnan

Animal Sentience

This commentary examines the next step in Marino’s target article – changing people’s attitudes and beliefs about chickens. The scientific case seems clear: chickens are far more complex, psychologically and socially, than originally thought. Marino suggests we use this information to make people feel uncomfortable about their dietary choices in the hope of changing them. We review the psychological literature, examining how people maintain meat consumption despite the clash with their moral beliefs (the “meat paradox”). This work highlights the important gap between what science knows about animals and what people think about animals.

Evolutionary Continuity, Anne Benvenuti

Animal Sentience

The principle of evolutionary continuity states that all animal capacities and behaviors exist — with variations in degree — in continuity with other species. Rather than assuming discontinuity, we should ask why any behavior observed in humans would not be found in at least some other sentient animals under similar conditions. In the case of suicide, the more pertinent issue might be the ethical one: our human responsibility for creating conditions under which other animals might deliberately seek to end their own lives.

Non-Human Animal Suicide Could Be Tested, David Lester

Animal Sentience

Schaefer (1967) showed that mice can discriminate live from dead mice and lethal from nonlethal environments, and that they avoid a lethal environment; but the experiment lacked some controls. This might be a way to test whether mice would ever choose a lethal environment. Humans may also choose a potentially lethal environment unconsciously.

Understanding Animal Suicide And Death Can Lead To Better End-Of-Life Care, Jessica Pierce

Animal Sentience

Peña-Guzmán’s target article on animal suicide will help inform end-of-life care for animals by emphasizing the need for a broad research focus on animal thanatology. Greater scientific understanding of the continuum of death-related awareness, experiences, and behaviors will help us improve veterinary care for animals at the end of life.

Complicated Grief, Teya Brooks Pribac

Animal Sentience

My commentary discusses complicated grief and the ensuing sense of helplessness that may lead to suicide. I close with a story about a pygmy pig.

Can Nonhuman Animals Commit Suicide?, David M. Peña-Guzmán

Animal Sentience

Many people believe that only humans have the cognitive and behavioral capacities needed for suicidal behavior, such as reflexive subjectivity, free will, intentionality, or awareness of death. Three counterarguments — based on (i) negative emotions and psychopathologies among nonhuman animals, (ii) the nature of self-destructive behavior, and (iii) the problem of model fidelity in suicide research — suggest that self-destructive and self-injurious behaviors among human and nonhuman animals vary along a continuum.

Tribute To Jaak Panksepp, Jonathan Balcombe

Animal Sentience

No abstract provided.

The Roles Of Individuals And Social Networking In A Small Group Of Domestic Horses At Pasture, C. Ricci-Bonot, Marthe Kiley-Worthington

Social Behavior Collection

100 h (500 horse h) of critically assessed observations where analysed from two pastural situations on decision making and social networking in a herd of 5 arab and arab x horses of the Druimghigha Stud, behaviourally studied since 1978. Roles such as decision maker (the oldest mare) or follower (the youngest filly) and the popularity of each individual from whom they chose to be near were analysed. Social netwok analysis indicated the centrality of an individual, cohesive bonds among 3 mares and a sub group of the filly and the gelding. A network closure towards the gelding was also illustrated, …

Persistence Of Urban Stream Syndrome Effects From Point Source And Non-Point Source Pollutants, T. S. Wakefield

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

In a previous study, Sager Creek, a small 1^st-3^rd order stream in northwest Arkansas was shown to be negatively impacted by urban land usage within the watershed, producing a stream that exhibited several indicators of urban stream syndrome. This included (1) physical disturbances: increases in impervious surfaces in the watershed, dams built across the stream, and alteration of the natural stream flow through the construction of retaining walls, (2) chemical disturbances: increases in electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS) as well as elevated PO₄ levels (3) and biological disturbances: low populations of pollution intolerant …

Bioassessment Of Four Karst Springs At Hobbs State Park – Conservation Area With A Focus On Diving Beetle (Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae) Species Of Concern, Scott Longing, L. A. Mack, Brian E. Haggard

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Four springs were surveyed at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area to provide an initial bioassessment and to determine occurrences of two endemic predaceous diving beetles of concern, Heterosternuta sulphuria and Sanfilippodytes sp. Habitat in the four spring runs were dominated by bedrock and gravel substrate with heavy accumulations of leaf litter. Thirty-three taxa representing 11 orders were collected from the four springs. Non-insect taxa included Oligochaeta, Physidae, and Isopoda, and predominant insect orders included Ephemeroptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Trichoptera. The total number of taxa across springs ranged from seven to 19, with total abundances ranging from 39 to 86 individuals. No …

Biophysical Drivers Of Carbon Dioxide And Methane Fluxes In A Restored Tidal Freshwater Wetland, Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Scott C. Neubauer, William Shuart, Christopher M. Gough

Rice Rivers Center Research Symposium

Wetlands store large amounts of carbon (C) in biomass and soils, playing a crucial role in offsetting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; however, they also account for 30% of global yearly CH4 emissions. Anthropogenic disturbance has led to the decline of natural wetlands throughout the United States, with a corresponding increase in created and restored wetlands. Studies characterizing biogeochemical processes in restored forested wetlands, particularly those that are both tidal and freshwater, are lacking but essential for informing science- based carbon management.

Identifying Biotic Determinants Of Historic American Eel (Anguilla Rostrata) Distributions, Taylor E. Woods, Daniel J. Mcgarvey

Rice Rivers Center Research Symposium

Traditionally, ecologists studying large scale patterns in species distributions emphasize abiotic variables over biotic interactions. Noting that both abiotic & biotic variables likely determine distributions of all organisms, many ecologists now aim for a more comprehensive view of species distributions, inclusive of both abiotic and biotic components (Soberón 2007).

Managing For Wildlife Habitat On Rangelands In The Great Plains, Maggi Sliwinski, Mark E. Burbach, Larkin Powell, Walter H. Schacht

School of Natural Resources: Documents and Reviews

No abstract provided.

Getting To The Other Side, Debra Merskin

Animal Sentience

Marino’s comprehensive, detailed, and timely review provides clear evidence of the sentience of chickens and strong support for those wishing to challenge their exclusion from even the limited protections currently accorded to animals grown for food.

Sentience Does Not Require “Higher” Cognition, Giorgio Vallortigara

Animal Sentience

I agree with Marino (2017a,b) that the cognitive capacities of chickens are likely to be the same as those of many others vertebrates. Also, data collected in the young of this precocial species provide rich information about how much cognition can be pre-wired and predisposed in the brain. However, evidence of advanced cognition — in chickens or any other organism — says little about sentience (i.e., feeling). We do not deny sentience in human beings who, because of cognitive deficits, would be incapable of exhibiting some of the cognitive feats of chickens. Moreover, complex problem solving, such as transitive inference, …

Misperceiving And Underestimating The Ubiquitous Chicken, Carrie P. Freeman

Animal Sentience

Marino has provided an accurate and nuanced view about chickens’ complex capabilities as sentient individuals. I explore the implications of these findings for scholars as well as for activists in the protection of farmed animals.

Is Psychological Science Committing “Suicide” By Linguistic Muddling?, Roger K. Thomas

Animal Sentience

Beginning mainly with the “cognitive revolution” in psychology in the latter half of the 20^th century, psychological science has been committing “suicide” slowly via linguistic muddling. Peña-Guzmán’s target article is but one of thousands of cuts contributing to this death by “suicide.” Having said that, given the current state of affairs in animal cognition research, there is much to commend in Peña-Guzmán’s article. I leave that to others, however. This commentary explains how the suicide by muddling of psychological science is happening in general, with the understanding that it applies also to Peña-Guzmán’s target article.