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

Toward A Synthesis Of Conservation And Animal Welfare Science, David Fraser Nov 2017

Toward A Synthesis Of Conservation And Animal Welfare Science, David Fraser

David Fraser, PhD

Conservation biology and animal welfare science are multidisciplinary fields of research that address social concerns about animals. Conservation biology focuses on wild animals, works at the level of populations, ecological systems and genetic types, and deals with threats to biodiversity and ecological integrity. Animal welfare science typically focuses on captive (often domestic) animals, works at the level of individuals and groups, and deals with threats to the animals’ health and quality of life. However, there are many areas of existing or potential overlap: (i) many real-life problems, such as environmental contamination, urban development and transportation, create problems for animals that …


Rating Harms To Wildlife: A Survey Showing Convergence Between Conservation And Animal Welfare Views, S. Dubois, D. Fraser Nov 2017

Rating Harms To Wildlife: A Survey Showing Convergence Between Conservation And Animal Welfare Views, S. Dubois, D. Fraser

David Fraser, PhD

Human activities may cause conservation concerns when animal populations or ecosystems are harmed and animal welfare concerns when individuals are harmed. In general, people are concerned with one or the other, as the concepts may be regarded as separate or even at odds. An online purposive survey of 339 British Columbians explored differences between groups that varied by gender, residency, wildlife engagement level and value orientation (conservation-oriented or animal welfare-oriented), to see how they rated the level of harm to wildlife caused by different human activities. Women, urban residents, those with low wildlife engagement, and welfare-orientated participants generally scored activities …


Four Types Of Activities That Affect Animals: Implications For Animal Welfare Science And Animal Ethics Philosophy, D. Fraser, A. M. Macrae Nov 2017

Four Types Of Activities That Affect Animals: Implications For Animal Welfare Science And Animal Ethics Philosophy, D. Fraser, A. M. Macrae

David Fraser, PhD

People affect animals through four broad types of activity: (1) people keep companion, farm, laboratory and captive wild animals, often while using them for some purpose; (2) people cause deliberate harm to animals through activities such as slaughter, pest control, hunting, and toxicology testing; (3) people cause direct but unintended harm to animals through crop production, transportation, night-time lighting, and many other human activities; and (4) people harm animals indirectly by disturbing ecological systems and the processes of nature, for example by destroying habitat, introducing foreign species, and causing pollution and climate change. Each type of activity affects vast numbers …


Coexistence Of Confamilial, Folivorous Indriids, Propithecus Diadema And Indri Indri, At Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, Madagascar, Lana Kerker Oliver May 2017

Coexistence Of Confamilial, Folivorous Indriids, Propithecus Diadema And Indri Indri, At Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, Madagascar, Lana Kerker Oliver

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine how two confamilial and ecologically similar indriids, indri (Indri indri), and diademed sifakas (Propithecus diadema) maintain coexistence in Betampona Nature Reserve (BNR), an eastern lowland rainforest in Madagascar. These two species occur sympatrically throughout much of their species ranges and are similarly-sized folivorous primates. As anatomic folivores, they present an opportunity to investigate how niche differentiation and resource partitioning allow two sympatric primate species with similar feeding patterns to coexist. I examined coexistence strategies and the general behavioral ecology of each species by examining their activity patterns, dietary profiles, home range use, and daily path …


Niche Modeling For The Giant Panda, Ailuropoda Melanoleuca, And The Original Panda, Ailurus Fulgens: Habitat Preferences And Evolutionary Consequences, Lauren M. Lyon May 2017

Niche Modeling For The Giant Panda, Ailuropoda Melanoleuca, And The Original Panda, Ailurus Fulgens: Habitat Preferences And Evolutionary Consequences, Lauren M. Lyon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The well-known symbol for conservation, the giant panda bear, and the original red panda have been forced into remote habitats due to anthropogenic disturbance, making ecological study difficult. Therefore the first known species distribution model was created to predict the most likely areas of occurrence within the known range of these elusive animals. These models were then projected onto North America and evaluated against existing breeding programs. Additionally, the close proximity of the Gray Fossil Site and the discovery of the most complete fossil red panda specimens in the world allowed ecomorphological comparisons between the modern red panda, Ailurus fulgens …


The Roles Of Activism And Citizen Science In The Area Covered By The East Gippsland Regional Forest Agreement, Ian Corbet Apr 2017

The Roles Of Activism And Citizen Science In The Area Covered By The East Gippsland Regional Forest Agreement, Ian Corbet

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For this Independent Study Project, I have examined the roles of activism and citizen science under the East Gippsland Regional Forestry Act. I conducted the study in the hopes of understanding better how activists have contributed to the overall conservation of the forests of East Gippsland. As the government has recently extended the twenty year agreement for another year, I wanted to determine if the real stakeholders of the conservation movement were taken into account. I sought the perspectives of people involved in the either the administration, implementation or opposition to the RFA. This ended up being eight people in …


Using Geospatial Analysis For High School Environmental Science Education: A Case Study Of The Jane Goodall Institute's Community-Centered Conservation Approach, Madison G. Vorva Jan 2017

Using Geospatial Analysis For High School Environmental Science Education: A Case Study Of The Jane Goodall Institute's Community-Centered Conservation Approach, Madison G. Vorva

Pomona Senior Theses

Given my experiences as a young conservation advocate, I saw a need to teach students the importance of interconnectedness, cultural awareness and systems-thinking skills through a spatial lens. I believe these skills are required for holistic, equitable and sustainable conservation decision-making in local and international contexts. This thesis uses geospatial tools to teach conservation ecology vocabulary and concepts from high school environmental science curriculum in two online resources. The purpose of my lesson plan is to show students how conservationists address complex conservation and land-use challenges using the Jane Goodall Institute’s community-centered conservation approach as a case-study. My hope is …