Animal Sciences Commons^™

Constructing A Series Of Informative Videos And Building Social Media Platforms For Save One Soul Animal Rescue League, Cassandra Munroe

Senior Honors Projects

Approximately six million animals enter shelters each year. Of those six million animals, about two million are killed each year. Due to the lack of spaying and neutering and overcrowding, especially in the southern states of the U.S., the population of animals in high-kill shelters is alarming. Save One Soul Animal Rescue League (SOSARL) is a volunteer-driven non-profit dog rescue founded and based in Rhode Island. The mission of SOSARL is to permanently rehome homeless, neglected, abandoned, and at-risk dogs. The majority of the dogs rehomed by SOSARL are transported from overcrowded high-kill shelters in the Southern U.S. or from …

Effects Of Environmental Enrichment On Behavior In A Domestic Goat Herd, Stephanie Peramas

Senior Honors Projects

Animal welfare is one of the most important parts of animal management. Apart from other measures of good animal welfare, like being in good health, animal behavior can be indicative of the animal’s internal state and is often one of the first signs of improper welfare. Stereotypies, or stereotypic behavior, are commonly viewed as a symptom of improper animal welfare. Unenriched, or barren, environments associated with farmed livestock have long been associated with inducing stereotypic behavior. The addition of precise enrichment to the animals’ environment is a common remedy for stereotypic behavior. With respect to stereotypic goat behavior, few empirical …

Automated Detection Of Deep-Sea Animals, Dallas J. Hollis, Duane Edgington, Danelle Cline

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute routinely deploys remotely operated underwater vehicles equipped with high definition cameras for use in scientific studies. Utilizing a video collection of over 22,000 hours and the Video Annotation and Reference System, we have set out to automate the detection and classification of deep-sea animals. This paper serves to explore the pitfalls of automation and suggest possible solutions to automated detection in diverse ecosystems with varying field conditions. Detection was tested using a saliency-based neuromorphic selective attention algorithm. The animals that were not detected were then used to tune saliency parameters. Once objects are detected, …

Epigenetic Regulation Of Gene Expression During Spermatogenesis, Karishma Nayak

Senior Honors Projects

In the US livestock production industry, improving reproductive efficiency will improve animal welfare and maintain reasonable costs of meat and milk for consumers. In recent research, abnormalities in epigenetic markers in sperm during spermatogenesis, has been linked to male subfertility in many species. Epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modifications of gene expression, including DNA methylation, rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. When this process is disturbed, it can negatively impact semen therefore decreasing its fertility. Through further research on how DNA methylation influences gene expression during spermatogenesis and its impact on sperm quality, …

2016 Aq Summit: Introduction By Anne Langston, Anne L. Langston

Annual Maine Aquaculture R&D and Education Summits

Maine’s aquaculture sector is already strong and vibrant, but has substantial potential to increase in size and productivity, leading to new business and job creation. The vast majority (but not all) of Maine’s aquaculture firms have common characteristics such as: small size; small workforce and therefore a reduced diversity of in-company skills to draw on; limited access to capital; and reduced capacity for research and innovation. These characteristics can hinder growth both as a business and a sector.

To support Maine’s community of small businesses, and maximize growth for businesses and the aquaculture sector, collaborative research and development is required. …

Does Recreational Diving Impact Hawksbill Sea Turtle Sighting Rates? Preliminary Analysis For A Marine Protected Area, Honduras, Christian Hayes, Dustin S. Baumbach, Marsha K. Wright, Linda Baeza, Marta Macpui, Lidia A. Salinas, Stephen G. Dunbar

Science and Mathematics Faculty Presentations

Recreational diving is a form of ecotourism that is traditionally viewed as an ecologically sustainable activity prompting increased awareness for the marine environment. Still, recent studies indicate that recreational diving may cause increased spatio-temporal variability within coral ecosystems and unintended behavioral changes in marine macrofauna. Few studies however, have looked specifically at the effect of recreational diving on sea turtles. The purpose of this study was to determine if differences in dive site use and habitat composition can affect the rate of Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) sightings in a marine protected area. From June 3 – August 31, 2014 …

2015 Aq Summit: Introduction To Maine Aq By Sebastian Belle, Sebastian Belle

Annual Maine Aquaculture R&D and Education Summits

A general overview of Maine's aquaculture sector, and the Maine aquaculture development plan.

Evaluating Colostrum Quality With Niacin Supplementation In The Diet Of Dairy Cattle, Allison Marie Pike

Student Research Projects

Dairy calves are born with a naive immune system, and must obtain passive immunity through ingestion of colostrum. Colostrum provides the newborn with antimicrobial proteins called immunoglobulins, such as immunoglobulin G (IgG), that protect the calf for the first few weeks of life. Calves that receive good quality colostrum (>50 g/L of IgG) are more likely to survive to adulthood. Niacin is a vasodilator that may increase blood flow to the mammary gland during production of colostrum in the mother. This experiment investigated the effect of niacin supplementation at a rate of 48 g/cow/day for 3 weeks before calving …

Narrated History Of Wcrec, Cathy Fox

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte: History and Publications

No abstract provided.

Landscape Limnology: Nutrient Fluxes & Biotic Stability In Complex Mountain Watersheds, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Michelle Kang, Dave M. Epstein

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Extreme Eutrophication And Cyanotoxin Levels In Farmington Bay, A Polluted Embayment Of The Great Salt Lake, Utah, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Amy M. Marcarelli, Gregory Boyer

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The Great Salt Lake of Utah is surrounded on its eastern and southern shores by 1.4 million people, with projections of 5 million by 2050. Agricultural, industrial and particularly secondary-treated domestic wastes from this population flow primarily into Farmington Bay, a 280 km2 shallow "estuary" with a mean depth near 0.5 m. Fish are rare but bird use is extensive and massive mortalities of waterfowl and shorebirds have occurred in the bay. Phosphorus loading rates of >2 g m-2yr-1 cause hypereutrophic conditions: Secchi depths are usually 0.6 mg/L, mean Chl. a is 179 ug/L and the combined trophic state index …

Eutrophication In Farmington Bay And Its Potential Impacts On Wildlife, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Landscape Patterns Of Streams & Lakes In Montane Watersheds Determine Water Temperatures & Nutrient Transport: Watershed Analyses And N Tracer Experiments, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, J. Garrett, G. Burkart, W. Fleenor, K. Nydick, R. Hall, Michelle A. Baker

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

In glaciated mountains, lakes are interspersed through watersheds and connected by streams. Although lakes or streams are frequently studied as individual water bodies, studying them as integrated functional units provides considerable insight on temperature patterns, nutrient transport and other functions. In the Sawtooth Mountains (Idaho), inter-lake distance averages 2.8 km. In summer, lakes are solar collectors, and warm outflow streams as much as 10 C, thus increasing metabolic rates. These streams seldom cool to equilibrium temperatures before encountering another lake, where the waters tend to overflow and mix into the epilimnion. With overflow, N-15 tracer experiments demonstrated that water and …

Nitrogen Transport Through Linked Stream-Lake Systems Measured With N Tracer, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Koren Nydick, Michelle A. Baker, Bob Hall

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Topo-Morphometric Analysis Of Lake-Stream Interactions In Alpine Watersheds, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Michelle A. Baker

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.