Animal Sciences Commons^™

Exploring A Potential Bias In Detection Of Mesopredators By Cameras, Rylee Gibson

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mesopredators, such as the raccoon (Procyon locor), Virginia opossum (Didpelphis virginiana), and striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) play crucial ecological roles as predators, prey, and disease vectors across much of the United States. Because of their importance and the way that populations of these mesopredators can dramatically increase due to human-subsidized resources, it is imperative that studies attempting to quantify mesopredator community composition are accurate and unbiased. However, it has recently been suggested that not all mammals trigger motion-activated wildlife game cameras at the same rate and for some species detection probability may be biased. My goals for this thesis were …

Climate-Driven Impacts On Himalayan Aquatic Biodiversity: A Case Study Involving Snowtrout (Cyprinidae: Schizothorax), Riri Wiyanti Retnaningtyas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Monitoring biodiversity, to include its relative dispersal and contraction, has become a conservation task of great importance, particularly given the catastrophic and ongoing loss of habitat due to climate change. However, the timing, direction, and magnitude of these rates vary across taxa and ecosystems. Predicting specific impacts of climate change can thus be difficult and this, in turn, hampers management action. Metrics are needed to not only quantify contemporary requirements of species, but also predict potential distributions that fluctuate in lockstep with climate.

Montane ecosystems in the Himalayas are highly impacted by climate change, yet remain largely understudied due to …

Bird Usage Of Black Marasmius Fibers As Nest Material, Haris Rana, Shayla Smithson, Jack Jackson, Ragupathy Kannan

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Black Marasmius fungal fibers have been frequently observed in neotropical bird nests. We tested to determine if superior tensile strength and temperature moderation contributes to why these fibers are preferred by some species over other available nesting materials. Marasmius fibers from nests of Yellow-olive Flycatchers (Tolmomyias sulphurescens) were compared to grass fibers from a Yellow-tailed Oriole (Icterus mesomelas) nest from the same area in Belize, Central America. We measured tensile strengths by a universal strength tester which stretched the fibers to their breaking point. We also used HOBO data loggers to compare the temperature differential between …

Mammal Species Inventory Using Various Trapping Methods In Zone 4 Of Billy Barquedier National Park, Belize During Rainy Season, Mersady Redding

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Belize is a small country, but it is extremely ecologically diverse. Based on the few studies conducted in Belize, the abundance of mammals is low but diversity is high. Particular findings note the number and identity of species differed between four sites in the Maya Mountains of Belize, indicating that a data set from a single site is not representative of the Neotropical region. Insufficient data is available to estimate current species richness of many areas in Belize, including Billy Barquedier National Park (BBNP). The objective of this study was to explore trapping and documentation methods of terrestrial mammals in …

Rescue And Reestablishment Of Chicken Models For Spontaneously Occurring Hashimoto’S Thyroiditis And Systemic Sclerosis/Scleroderma, Joseph Zolton Hiltz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The loss of biodiversity is a topic gaining popularity both in the political and scientific forums. Nearly 30 years ago researchers and politicians congregated in Rio de Janeiro (1992) to attend the first Earth Summit. It was the first meeting of its kind discussing the tangible pressing consequences of biodiversity loss as well as the potential long term ramifications. Many of the countries represented at this summit implemented short and long term plans in order to accurately measure losses of biodiversity as well as establishing organizations to help diagnose and remedy the current problems at hand. These new organizations and …

The Diversity Of Terrestrial Mammals Surrounding Waterfall At Billy Barquedier National Park, Kelsey Johnson

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Billy Barquedier is a National Park located in the Stann Creek district of Belize that contains Neotropical vegetation and wildlife. This study was performed in order to provide a baseline inventory and appearance frequency patterns of the terrestrial mammals located within Zone 1 of the park near a waterfall. The goal of the data and information collected during this study is to gain a greater understanding of the biodiversity and activity patterns of terrestrial mammals within the park and across Belize as a whole. The use of camera traps, small Sherman live traps, large live traps, and tracking methods were …

The Diversity Of Terrestrial Mammals Surrounding Waterfall At Billy Barquedier National Park, Kelsey Johnson, Jason Apple

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Billy Barquedier is a National Park located in the Stann Creek district of Belize that contains Neotropical vegetation and wildlife. This study was performed to provide a baseline inventory and appearance frequency patterns of the terrestrial mammals located within Zone 1 of the park near a waterfall and to gain a greater understanding of the biodiversity and activity patterns of terrestrial mammals within the park. The methods included camera traps, small Sherman live traps, large live traps, and tracking methods. A non-random sampling method of placing camera traps and live traps on or near human-made or animal-made trails was used …

Long-Tailed Weasel (Mustela Frenata) Distribution Survey In Arkansas: Challenges In Detecting A Rare Species, Suzanne D. Johnston, D. Blake Sasse, Robert E. Kissell Jr.

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Long-tailed weasels (Mustela frenata) have one of the widest distributions of mustelids in the western hemisphere and were distributed across a majority of the American continents ranging from Canada through the contiguous United States, Mexico, and into northern South America. However, on a local scale they are considered uncommon and rare. We assessed the distribution of long-tailed weasels across Arkansas to determine occupancy in each ecoregion of Arkansas, and determined the detectability on two local, adjacent sites. No long-tailed weasels were detected within the ecoregions, but the species was detected with intensive sampling on one local site. It …

Additional Records Of Acanthocephalan Parasites From Arkansas Fishes, With New Records From Missouri Fishes, Chris T. Mcallister, Michael A. Barger, Henry W. Robison

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Over the last decade, our research consortium has provided information on acanthocephalan parasites of Arkansas vertebrates, including records from some of the state’s fishes. Here, we continue to provide data on new geographic and new host records of acanthocephalans from Arkansas fishes. In addition, for the first time, we report records of acanthocephalans for some Missouri fishes. We document 2 new state records as well as 10 new host records for some fish acanthocephalans.

Local Scale Comparisons Of Avian And Woody Vegetation Communities Within Four Arkansas State Parks, Bennett P. Grooms, Rachael E. Urbanek

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Measuring the spatial distribution of biotic communities can provide useful data to wildlife managers on how and why species assemblages differ across a landscape. During 18 May – 7 August 2015, we conducted avian point counts and collected vegetation data in nested subplots at 4 Arkansas state parks. We then used a series of one-way ANOVAs and Kruskal-Wallis tests to examine differences in species richness, Simpson’s evenness, Simpson’s diversity, and Bray-Curtis similarity across the 4 parks. Mount Magazine State Park had the lowest avian evenness (F_3,22 = 9.57 P = 0.003) and diversity (F_3,22 = 17.8 …

Population Sampling Of Chelonians In An Urban Lake In Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas, J. D. Konvalina, C. S. Thigpen, S. E. Trauth

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

We conducted a mark-recapture survey for aquatic turtles in Craighead Forest Lake in Jonesboro (Craighead County, Arkansas). From July 2, 2015 to October 14, 2015, we set six hoop nets, baited with fish parts, at specific shoreline locations around the lake. Traps were set twice a week and checked 12 hours after they were set. Carapace length, carapace width, plastron length, and plastron width were measured for each individual. Each turtle was identified to species and its sex was recorded. We also placed a notch in one or more of its marginal scutes to aid in future identification. Finally, a …

Fecundity Of Male White-Tailed Deer On Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge, Thomas A. Nelson, Michael W. Johnson

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Male reproductive tracts were collected from 57 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) harvested on Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge during the 1988 and 1989 archery deer seasons. Organ weights and total numbers of spermatozoa present were determined for both testes and epididymides. Among yearling and adult males, the mean weights of testes and epididymides peaked during November and decreased through the end of the collection period in mid-December. Total number of spermatozoa in the tract increased through October, peaked during the last half of November, and decreased through mid- December. No significant difference was found between the mean number of spermatozoa …

Bats Of The Ouachita Mountains, David A. Saugey, Darrell R. Heath, Gary A. Heidt

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

A survey was conducted from June, 1982 through January, 1989 to determine the occurrence of bat species in the Ouachita Mountain region of west-central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma, with emphasis on censusing lands managed by the USDA Forest Service, Ouachita National Forest. Seven genera and 13 species of bats in the families Vespertilionidae and Molossidae were captured. Species represented included: Eptesicus fuscus, Lasionycteris noctivagans, Lasiurus borealis, Lasiurus cinereus, Lasiurus seminolus, Myotis austroriparius, Myotis keenii, Myotis leibii, Myotis lucifugus, Myotissodalis, Nycticeius humeralis, Pipistrellus subflavus, and Tadarida brasiliensis cynocephala.