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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Effect Of Calcium Supplement On Eyesight Of Western Tiger Salamanders, Abigail Horner, Dennis Ferraro Apr 2020

Effect Of Calcium Supplement On Eyesight Of Western Tiger Salamanders, Abigail Horner, Dennis Ferraro

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There has been some discussion in herpetoculture about adding calcium supplements to the diets of salamanders. Adding calcium supplements to a salamander’s diet has been indicated to contribute to blindness. Calcium supplements are usually given to reptiles and amphibians to prevent dietary deficiencies, particularly metabolic bone disease. The link between lack of calcium and metabolic bone disease is well established in reptiles, but is lacking significant research with regards to amphibians. Within the eye of a salamander, there are calcium channels that mediate photosynthetic rods in the absence of light. With a calcium rich diet, it is believed that these …


The Impact Of Nicotine Accumulation Exposure On Lithobates Catebeianus Larvae Mortality, Luke Micek Apr 2020

The Impact Of Nicotine Accumulation Exposure On Lithobates Catebeianus Larvae Mortality, Luke Micek

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Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world and contain over 4,000 chemicals, including the organic compound nicotine (Slaughter et al. 2011). Billions of cigarette butts are littered each year which may wash into bodies of water, impacting the local wildlife. To determine how introduced chemicals impact the environment, it is important to study its effects on indicator species. Amphibians, such as Lithobates catebeianus, act as indicator species due to their extreme sensitivity to chemical changes in its environment. The purpose of this research project was to obtain data to help determine the impact nicotine accumulation has …


Transect Survey Biases And Correction Methods In Southern Africa, Erika Swenson, Larkin Powell Apr 2020

Transect Survey Biases And Correction Methods In Southern Africa, Erika Swenson, Larkin Powell

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In southern Africa, transect surveys and distance-based analyses are often used to obtain density and population estimates for species in large reserves or management zones. However, these estimates may be biased by unnaturally large concentrations of animals at waterholes that are on or near the path of the transect. We used empirical survey data from the Namibrand Nature Reserve in southwest Namibia to parameterize spatial simulations in which we distributed gemsbok (Oryx gazella) on a grid along a 50-kilometer transect. We created multiple simulations with and without waterholes to determine how the proportion of animals clumped at the …