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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences
Interactions And Pathogen Transmission Between Carnivores In Madagascar, Fidisoa Rasambainarivo
Interactions And Pathogen Transmission Between Carnivores In Madagascar, Fidisoa Rasambainarivo
Dissertations
Introduced carnivores exert considerable pressure on native predators through predation, competition and disease transmission. Improved understanding of determinant factors of interactions and pathogen transmission between introduced and endemic wildlife may help to predict disease emergence, avoid pathogen spillover and help control outbreaks. Using non-invasive camera traps, I identified areas where transmission of pathogens might happen through records of shared space-use within a protected area in Eastern Madagascar. I showed that indirect interactions between animals were more likely to occur near the research station which may constitute a disease transmission hotspot for carnivores in the landscape. Secondly, I investigated the associations …
Information Acquisition And Sociality Among Migratory Birds, Zoltán Németh
Information Acquisition And Sociality Among Migratory Birds, Zoltán Németh
Dissertations
Information use is a key feature of adaptive behavior: the better informed an individual, the better it is able to adjust its behavior to meet the demands of a variable world. Therefore, most animals attempt to reduce environmental uncertainty by gathering information when it is available. However, tracking unpredictable ecological factors may carry costs as individuals invest valuable time and energy in the process of information acquisition. Social learning (i.e., use of social information inadvertently produced by other individuals) enables the individual to gain rapid and more complete assessment of its novel environment. This process may be particularly important for …
Roosting Ecology Of Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat, Corynorhinus Rafinesquii, In Southeastern Mississippi, Austin Webb Trousdale Iii
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 …