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Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Winter Roost Selection Of Eastern Red Bats And Impacts Of Non-Growing Season Prescribed Fire On Foraging Activity Of Forest Roosting Bats In Tennessee, Ashley D. Epstein May 2024

Winter Roost Selection Of Eastern Red Bats And Impacts Of Non-Growing Season Prescribed Fire On Foraging Activity Of Forest Roosting Bats In Tennessee, Ashley D. Epstein

Masters Theses

With an increase in wind energy development and continued deforestation and habitat degradation, eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis; LABO) and other migratory foliage roosting bats (hoary bat [Lasiurus cinereus; LACI], silver-haired bat [Lasionycteris noctivagans; LANO]) are at risk of severe population declines, potentially leading to the need for protection under the Endangered Species Act. While studies have been done examining the ecology of these species, there is still a lack of research on winter roosting and foraging behaviors. This research aims to fill some of those knowledge gaps by 1) Examining roost use (i.e., trees vs. litter) …


Go Big Or Go Home: Divergence In Morphology And Behavior Between Island And Islet Populations Of The San Cristóbal Lava Lizard (Microlophus Bivittatus), Emilio J. Mancero Aug 2023

Go Big Or Go Home: Divergence In Morphology And Behavior Between Island And Islet Populations Of The San Cristóbal Lava Lizard (Microlophus Bivittatus), Emilio J. Mancero

Masters Theses

Rapid divergence in body size is a well-documented phenomenon among island species, associated with macroevolutionary processes of diversification and adaptive radiation. The effect of insularity in determining larger body size as an optimal phenotype is primarily attributed to lower predation and greater intraspecific competition on islands. Our study examined interpopulation variation in morphology, social behavior and predator avoidance in Galápagos lava lizards endemic to San Cristóbal island (Microlophus bivittatus), and the nearby islet Isla Lobos. Islet populations have fewer competitors than those on the island, where native and introduced predators are abundant. We simulated interactions with predators and …


Exploring Song As A Reproductive Isolation Mechanism In A Hybridizing Population Of Winged Warblers, Amy E. Janik Apr 2020

Exploring Song As A Reproductive Isolation Mechanism In A Hybridizing Population Of Winged Warblers, Amy E. Janik

Masters Theses

Reproductive isolation mechanisms such as song are used by birds to promote assortative mating by species and prevent gene flow when closely related species come into secondary contact. Based on the strength of a reproductive barrier, signals in hybrid zones can diverge and become more dissimilar to maintain species or converge to become more similar and make species discrimination more difficult. When two closely related species overlap in territories and have similar songs, song convergence is likely and has the capacity to disrupt species recognition. We test the hypothesis that song acts as a reproductive isolation mechanism by examining song …


An Assessment Of Night Time And Seasonal Electrofishing In The Lower Wabash River, Eric Christopher Hine Jan 2019

An Assessment Of Night Time And Seasonal Electrofishing In The Lower Wabash River, Eric Christopher Hine

Masters Theses

Large rivers are highly important systems; being exploited both commercially and recreationally. Because of this usage by humans, close monitoring of the ecology of theses rivers is of the utmost importance. The Long-Term Electrofishing project (LTEF) monitors the fish communities of the Illinois, Mississippi, Wabash, and Ohio rivers using day time, pulsed-DC electrofishing during the late Spring through the early Fall each year. Given that previous studies have noted diel and seasonal changes in catch and composition of fish communities, the addition of night time electrofishing may be beneficial to the overarching goals of the LTEF. This study sought to …


Genetic Structure And Diversity Of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus Punctatus) In Three Large Midwestern Rivers, Vaclav Alexei Sotola Jan 2016

Genetic Structure And Diversity Of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus Punctatus) In Three Large Midwestern Rivers, Vaclav Alexei Sotola

Masters Theses

Little information is available regarding the genetic structure and diversity of sportfishes in large rivers, which can be vital to continuing the sustainable exploitation of these fisheries. Additionally, impoundments often have vast impacts on riverine systems. These impacts include altering the flow regime, changing the nutrient load, and preventing migratory fish from reaching their spawning grounds. If fishes are prevented from reaching their spawning grounds, their genetic diversity and structuring could begin to change relative to historic measures, potentially decreasing their fitness and ability to survive. I screened microsatellite loci to assess the genetic population structure and diversity of channel …


Rare Occurrences Of Free-Living Bacteria Belonging To Sedimenticola From Subtidal Seagrass Beds Associated With The Lucinid Clam, Stewartia Floridana, Aaron M. Goemann Dec 2015

Rare Occurrences Of Free-Living Bacteria Belonging To Sedimenticola From Subtidal Seagrass Beds Associated With The Lucinid Clam, Stewartia Floridana, Aaron M. Goemann

Masters Theses

Lucinid clams and their sulfur-oxidizing endosymbionts comprise two compartments of a three-stage, biogeochemical relationship among the clams, seagrasses, and microbial communities in marine sediments. A population of the lucinid clam, Stewartia floridana, was sampled from a subtidal seagrass bed at Bokeelia Island Seaport in Florida to test the hypotheses: (1) S. floridana, like other lucinids, are more abundant in seagrass beds than bare sediments; (2) S. floridana gill microbiomes are dominated by one bacterial operational taxonomic unit (OTU) at a sequence similarity threshold level of 97% (a common cutoff for species level taxonomy) from 16S rRNA genes; …


Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae And Unionidae) Of The Buffalo River Drainage, Tennessee, Matthew Philip Reed May 2014

Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae And Unionidae) Of The Buffalo River Drainage, Tennessee, Matthew Philip Reed

Masters Theses

The Buffalo River in Tennessee once hosted a rich population of freshwater mussels. During the 1980s, monitoring efforts demonstrated evidence of drastic declines and extirpation of entire assemblages. Increases in municipal development in the headwater tributaries and agriculture in the main stem of the Buffalo River are suspected causes for mussel community declines throughout the river. In 2011, collection data documented evidence of recovery in the lower Buffalo River. The aims of this project were: 1) to update the status, distribution, and species composition of mussels in the Buffalo River and its major tributaries through qualitative sampling, and 2) to …


Comparisons Of Genetic Variance And Physiological Responses In Two Populations Of Western Mosquitofish, Gambusia Affinis, Brett Egger Jan 1997

Comparisons Of Genetic Variance And Physiological Responses In Two Populations Of Western Mosquitofish, Gambusia Affinis, Brett Egger

Masters Theses

The study was conducted to determine the effects of lowered genetic variance in the Western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) on the physiological parameters of critical thermal maximum and minimum pH. Mosquitofish were obtained from two small central Illinois ponds, Lost Pond and Shadow Pond, by seines and dip nets. Once caught, fish were returned to the laboratory and acclimated for a minimum of five days at a temperature of 27°C and a pH of 8.25. At the beginning of each experimental run, fish were subjected to the physiological experiments for determination of critical thermal maximum and minimum pH, and then measured …