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Animal Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

The Effects Of The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid On Abundance And Nymphal Infection Prevalence Of Black-Legged Ticks In Maine, Spencer Christian Debrock May 2018

The Effects Of The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid On Abundance And Nymphal Infection Prevalence Of Black-Legged Ticks In Maine, Spencer Christian Debrock

Honors College

The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) has recently made a tremendous impact in Maine due to its role as a vector for the bacterial pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. A lesser known, but equally concerning, invasive insect is the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA; Adelges tsugae), a sap-sucking scale that is primarily responsible for the ongoing widespread decline of eastern hemlock in the northeast. Maine is currently experiencing a co-invasion of these species, and this study tests the hypothesis that the phenomenon of hemlock loss may facilitate the invasion of the black-legged tick by …


Assessing The Impacts Of Commercial Clearcut On Freshwater Invertebrate Communities, Nicholas J. Kovalik May 2018

Assessing The Impacts Of Commercial Clearcut On Freshwater Invertebrate Communities, Nicholas J. Kovalik

Honors College

Forest harvesting can impact the environment in many ways, one of which is causing a loss of subsidies and increased light intensity to freshwater ecosystems. This can have a major impact on freshwater invertebrate communities that may rely on subsidies to survive. In this study, I tested two effects of commercial clearcut, changes in light availability and detrital resources, on freshwater invertebrate communities. Cattle tanks containing freshwater invertebrates were given detritus from two different plots: one which underwent commercial clearcut over 50 years ago, and one which underwent commercial clearcut 2 years ago. Tanks were also placed in two areas …


Construction Of An Accessible Ocean-Acidification Simulator To Investigate Physiological Responses Of The Green Crab, Carcinus Maenas, To Acidified Conditions, Caroline M. Spangenberg May 2018

Construction Of An Accessible Ocean-Acidification Simulator To Investigate Physiological Responses Of The Green Crab, Carcinus Maenas, To Acidified Conditions, Caroline M. Spangenberg

Honors College

The European green crab Carcinus maenas L, is a major invasive species in North America as well as many other regions around the world, including South Africa, Australia, South America, and Asia. The species poses a significant threat to the diverse ecosystems and the aquaculture industries on the East coast of the United States, with the state of Maine particularly at risk. The shellfish industry is a significant part of Maine’s economy, and is threatened by the foraging behavior of green crabs toward small bivalves (Beal 2015). Climate change likely plays a large role in the rapid population growth of …