Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Resource Selection, Survival, And Departure Of Adult Female Mallards From The Lake St. Clair Region During Autumn And Winter, Matthew Palumbo Dec 2017

Resource Selection, Survival, And Departure Of Adult Female Mallards From The Lake St. Clair Region During Autumn And Winter, Matthew Palumbo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

During autumn and winter, mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) maximize fitness through their spatiotemporal distribution to avoid mortality risks while balancing trade-offs to access foods to undergo migration and maintain homeostasis. Thousands of mallards use Lake St. Clair as it is an important, but threatened, migratory staging area in the Great Lakes. My goal was to understand how mallards were selecting resources in the region and potential relationships of selection strategies. My objectives were to estimate resource selection of adult female mallards, in relation to perceived risk of hunting mortality, and determine if selection strategies were related to survival and …


Regulation Of Liver Mitochondrial Metabolism During Hibernation By Post-Translational Modification, Katherine E. Mathers Dec 2017

Regulation Of Liver Mitochondrial Metabolism During Hibernation By Post-Translational Modification, Katherine E. Mathers

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Hibernation, characterized by a seasonal reduction in metabolism and body temperature, allows animals to conserve energy when environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, food availability) are unfavourable. During hibernation, small mammals such as the 13-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) cycle between two distinct metabolic states: torpor, where metabolic rate is suppressed by >95% and body temperature falls to ~5 °C, and interbout euthermia (IBE), where metabolic rate and body temperature rapidly increase and are maintained at euthermic levels several hours. Suppression of metabolism during entrance into torpor is paralleled by rapid suppression of liver mitochondrial metabolism. In my thesis, I …


Modelling Walleye Population And Its Cannibalism Effect, Quan Zhou Aug 2017

Modelling Walleye Population And Its Cannibalism Effect, Quan Zhou

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Walleye is a very common recreational fish in Canada with a strong cannibalism tendency, such that walleyes with larger sizes will consume their smaller counterparts when food sources are limited or a surplus of adults is present. Cannibalism may be a factor promoting population oscillation. As fish reach a certain age or biological stage (i.e. biological maturity), the number of fish achieving that stage is known as fish recruitment. The objective of this thesis is to model the walleye population with its recruitment and cannibalism effect. A matrix population model has been introduced to characterize the walleye population into three …


Autumn Foraging And Staging Ecology Of Eastern Population Sandhill Cranes (Antigone Canadensis Tabida), Everett E. Hanna Jun 2017

Autumn Foraging And Staging Ecology Of Eastern Population Sandhill Cranes (Antigone Canadensis Tabida), Everett E. Hanna

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Spatial and temporal variation in the density and distribution of waste agricultural grain (grain herein) during staging can affect the carrying capacity of habitats that support avian populations. Such variation in food resources can also have proximate effects on behavioural ecology (e.g., influence optimal behaviour). The Eastern Population of Greater Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis tabida; EP herein) likely began to recolonize Ontario and its historic range starting in the early 1900s and now relies on agricultural grain during migration. Accordingly, ecologists possess little knowledge of how EP crane behavioural ecology may be affected by grain. Thus, my study …


Evolutionary Genetic Aspects Of Host Association In Generalist Ectoparasites, Benoit Talbot May 2017

Evolutionary Genetic Aspects Of Host Association In Generalist Ectoparasites, Benoit Talbot

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite the use of the host for dispersal by most parasite species, the extremely loose relationship typical between highly mobile hosts and generalist ectoparasites may lead to very different gene flow patterns between the two, leading in turn to different spatial genetic structure, and potentially different demographic history. I examined how similar gene flow patterns are between Cimex adjunctus, a generalist ectoparasite of bats present throughout North America, and two of its key bat hosts. I first analyzed the continent-scale genetic structure and demographic history of C. adjunctus and compared it to that of two of its hosts, the …


The Effects Of Crossbreeding And Low Fish Meal Diets On Growth-Related Traits In Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha), Katarina H. Doughty May 2017

The Effects Of Crossbreeding And Low Fish Meal Diets On Growth-Related Traits In Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha), Katarina H. Doughty

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Growth rate is the most important trait that can be manipulated to create more efficient aquaculture. Crossbreeding, where different populations are bred, has the potential to increase performance through release from inbreeding depression. I crossed a farm population of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) with seven wild populations, then compared growth rate, feed conversion efficiency, swimming speed and metabolic rate between the crossbred and original farmed lines. Crossbreeding resulted in increased growth rates, but had no effect on the other traits. I next evaluated the feasibility of using a diet that replaced fish meal with corn gluten meal and …


The Mixed Source Chinook Salmon Fishery In Lake Huron: A Comparison Of Spawning And Foraging Habitat Use By Naturalized And Hatchery Fish, Stephen A.C. Marklevitz Jan 2017

The Mixed Source Chinook Salmon Fishery In Lake Huron: A Comparison Of Spawning And Foraging Habitat Use By Naturalized And Hatchery Fish, Stephen A.C. Marklevitz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) were introduced into the Great Lakes to restore top-down control of the food web and create new recreational fisheries. Soon after introduction, naturalized spawning populations became established, and with continued stocking of hatchery fish, created a mixed source fishery. My research provides new ecological information about the contributions of naturalized fish to the mixed source Chinook salmon fishery in Lake Huron. I examined spawning and foraging habitat use by naturalized and hatchery Chinook salmon using multiple methods to identify sources of individual fish (external tags, hatchery fin clips, and otolith microchemistry). In the Sydenham …