Other Animal Sciences Commons^™

Heritable And Experiential Effects On Boldness In A Tropical Poeciliid, Culum Brown, Fiona Burgess, Victoria Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

Consistent differences in human behaviour are often explained with reference to personality traits. Recent evidence suggests that similar traits are widespread across the entire animal kingdom and that they may have substantial fitness consequences. One of the major components of personality is the shyness–boldness continuum. Little is known about the relative contributions of genes and the environment in the development of boldness in wild animal populations. Here, we bred wild-caught fish (Brachyraphis episcopi) collected from regions of highand low-predation pressure, reared their offspring in the laboratory under varying conditions and tested boldness utilising an open-field paradigm. First-generation laboratory-reared fish showed …

Correlation Between Boldness And Body Mass In Natural Populations Of The Poeciliid Brachyrhaphis Episcopi, C. Brown, F. Jones, V. Braithwaite

Sentience Collection

The boldness of individual Brachyrhaphis episcopi, collected from regions of high and low predation, was investigated using two independent assays: (1) the time to emerge from cover and (2) the propensity to leave shoal mates and investigate a novel object. A strong correlation between the two assays was revealed such that fish that emerged from shelter sooner were also more likely to approach a novel object. This is indicative of a boldness personality axis acting across both behavioural contexts. Fish from high-predation areas were bolder than those from low-predation areas and males were bolder than females. A significant correlation between …

Lpe Center News, December 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• Dry Manure Housing Systems for Beef and Dairy Featured in the January, 2008 Webcast

•. Survey to Determine Air Quality Webcast Topics

• Report Outlines Policy Changes to Clean Up the Chesapeake Bay

•.Virginia Project Offers Incentives for Improved Feed Management on Dairy Farms

Lpe Center News, November 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• December Webcast Showcases Innovative Manure Treatment Technologies from SBIR Program

•.New and Improved LPELC Website Set for a March, 2008 Launch

• EPA AgSTAR Program Encourages Use of Anaerobic Digesters

• National Air Mitigation Conference Call for Papers Closes December 1

Inside Unlv, Cate Weeks, Diane Russell, David Ashley, Grace Russell

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Relative Effects Of Mammal Herbivory And Plant Spacing On Seedling Recruitment Following Fire And Mining, Michael H. Parsons, Christine M. Rafferty, Byron B. Lamont, Kenneth Dods, Meredith M. Fairbanks

Natural Resources Research Articles

No abstract provided.

Lpe Center News, October 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• November Webcast to Examine Vegetative Treatment Systems for Managing Open Lot or Barnyard Runoff

• New Webcast Technology to Debut in October

• Mid-Atlantic Water Quality Program Website Offers Nutrient Budgets

• Pennsylvania Project Examines Manure Management in No-Till Systems

Depauperate Small Mammal Communities In Managed Pine Plantations In Eastern Virginia, James D. Dolan, Robert K. Rose

Virginia Journal of Science

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations of four different ages were examined to identify changes in the small mammal community in relation to changes in the vegetational community. Small mammals were evaluated during five seasons using two methods of trapping. Live traps accounted for 65% of captures and seven of nine species, whereas pitfall traps yielded eight species, of which two were not taken with live traps. For both trap types, catch rates averaged less than two per 100 trap-nights, very low even for pine forests. Both abundance and biomass of small mammals declined with increasing stand age, whereas species …

Animal Mind: Science, Philosophy, And Ethics, Bernard E. Rollin

Sentience Collection

Although 20th-century empiricists were agnostic about animal mind and consciousness, this was not the case for their historical ancestors – John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and, of course, Charles Darwin and George John Romanes. Given the dominance of the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary continuity, one would not expect belief in animal mind to disappear. That it did demonstrates that standard accounts of how scientific hypotheses are overturned – i.e., by empirical disconfirmation or by exposure of logical flaws – is inadequate. In fact, it can be demonstrated that belief in animal mind disappeared as a result …

Animal Minds, Cognitive Ethology, And Ethics, Colin Allen, Marc Bekoff

Sentience Collection

Our goal in this paper is to provide enough of an account of the origins of cognitive ethology and the controversy surrounding it to help ethicists to gauge for themselves how to balance skepticism and credulity about animal minds when communicating with scientists. We believe that ethicists’ arguments would benefit from better understanding of the historical roots of ongoing controversies. It is not appropriate to treat some widely reported results in animal cognition as if their interpretations are a matter of scientific consensus. It is especially important to understand why loose references to ‘‘cognitive ethology’’ by philosophers can signal ignorance …

Lpe Center News, September 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• Matching Treatment Systems with the Environmental Concern is October’s Webcast Topic

• Help Us Find the “Best of the Best”

• Have You Missed Out on Past Webcasts Because of Technical Difficulties?

• LPE Learning Center Opens Doors for Air Quality Education

• New Webcast Schedule Includes a Wide Variety of Topics

Nociception In Fish: Stimulus–Response Properties Of Receptors On The Head Of Trout Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Paul J. Ashley, Lynne U. Sneddon, Catherine R. Mccrohan

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

This study examined stimulus–response properties of somatosensory receptors on the head of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, using extracellular recording from single cells in the trigeminal ganglion. Of 121 receptors recorded from 39 fish, 17 were polymodal nociceptors, 22 were mechanothermal nociceptors, 18 were mechanochemical receptors, 33 were fast adapting mechanical receptors and 31 were slowly adapting mechanical receptors. Mechanical thresholds were higher in polymodal nociceptors than in either slowly adapting or fast adapting mechanical receptors, whereas thermal thresholds of mechanothermal nociceptors were higher than those of polymodal nociceptors. Polymodal nociceptors and mechanochemical receptors gave similar responses to topical applications of …

The Influence Of Early Experience On, And Inheritance Of, Cerebral Lateralization, Culum Brown, Jac Western, Victoria A. Braithwaite

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Cerebral lateralization refers to the lateralized partitioning of cognitive function in either hemisphere of the brain. Using a standard detour test, we investigated lateralized behaviour in wild-caught, female poeciliid fish, Brachyraphis (=Brachyrhaphis) episcopi, from high- and low-predation areas. Wild fish were bred and their offspring reared under controlled laboratory conditions. These laboratory-reared fish were screened in the same laterality assays as their parents. We observed differences between wild-caught females and their laboratory-reared female offspring in the pattern of lateralization (tendency to use one hemisphere over the other to process information). Conversely, the strength of lateralization (consistency of hemispherical bias) was …

Lpe Center News, August 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• Webcast Series Resumes with the Value of Manure in Energy Production

• Webcast Schedule Coming Soon

• Web Soil Survey 2.0 Is a Comprehensive and Useful Resource

• EPA Funded Research to Examine Hormones in Manure

Lpe Center News, July 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• Webcast Planning Survey Complete- Top Picks Are

• LPE Learning Center to be Part of eXtension

• Feed Management Fact Sheets Now Available

• EPA Develops a Matrix of Agriculture Related Regulations

• Upcoming EPA Workshop to Focus on Hormones; ASABE Hosts Symposium on Air Quality and Waste Management

Inhibition Of Nitric Oxide And Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase Signaling Affects Olfactory Neuron Activity In The Moth, Manduca Sexta, Caroline H. Wilson, Thomas A. Christensen, Alan J. Nighorn

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Nitric oxide is emerging as an important modulator of many physiological processes including olfaction, yet the function of this gas in the processing of olfactory information remains poorly understood. In the antennal lobe of the moth, Manduca sexta, nitric oxide is produced in response to odor stimulation, and many interneurons express soluble guanylyl cyclase, a well-characterized nitric oxide target. We used intracellular recording and staining coupled with pharmacological manipulation of nitric oxide and soluble guanylyl cyclase to test the hypothesis that nitric oxide modulates odor responsiveness in olfactory interneurons through soluble guanylyl cyclase-dependent pathways. Nitric oxide synthase inhibition resulted …

Lpe Center News, June 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this Issue:

• Webcast Series Takes a Break in July and August

• Value of Manure Resources Available

• LPE Learning Center Expands to Ten Teams

• Vegetative Treatment Systems Research and Demonstration Resources

• Vegetative Treatment Systems Being Evaluated for Large Feedlots

Zoo Research, Amanda Shyne

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Lpe Center News, May 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• June Webcast is Value-Added Processing of Manure

• Webcast Planning Underway

• Alternative Technologies Web Resources Available

• FPPC Program Offers Cost Share for Innovative Manure Technologies

• Iowa State to Host Conference on Anaerobic Treatment of Ag Waste

Lpe Center News, April 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• Value of Manure in Land Application Systems to be Presented in the May Webcast

• What’s New on the LPE Website?

• Value of Manure Topic Coming Soon

• SBIR Program Encourages Research in New Technologies for Manure Management

• Promising Treatment Technology Removes P from Manure

Individual Acoustic Variation In Fallow Deer (Dama Dama) Common And Harsh Groans: A Source-Filter Theory Perspective, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Mammals are able to distinguish conspecifics based on vocal cues, and the acoustic structure of mammal vocalizations is directly affected by the anatomy and action of the vocal apparatus. However, most studies investigating individual patterns in acoustic signals do not consider a vocal production-based perspective. In this study, we used the source-filter model of vocal production as a basis for investigating the acoustic variability of fallow deer groans. Using this approach, we quantified the potential of each acoustic component to carry information about individual identity. We also investigated if cues to individual identity carry over among the two groan types …

Lpe Center News, March 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• Lessons Learned from the Search for Environmentally Superior Technologies is April’s Webcast Topic

• Continuing Education Units Now Online

• Alternative Technologies Topic Coming Soon

• LPES Curriculum Includes Resources for Large and Small Farms

• What is Video Streaming and How Do I Get the Best Possible Quality?

Plasticity In Animal Personality Traits: Does Prior Experience Alter The Degree Of Boldness?, Ashley J. Frost, Alexandra Winrow-Giffen, Paul J. Ashley, Lynne U. Sneddon

Ethology Collection

Theoreticians predict that animal ‘personality’ traits may be maladaptive if fixed throughout different contexts, so the present study aimed to test whether these traits are fixed or plastic. Rainbow trout (Onchorhyncus mykiss) were given emboldening or negative experiences in the forms of watching bold or shy individuals responding to novelty or winning or losing fights to examine whether prior experience affected boldness. Bold individuals that lost fights or watched shy demonstrators became more shy by increasing their latency to approach a novel object, whereas shy observers that watched bold demonstrators remained cautious and did not modify their responses to novelty. …

Impact Of The Agricultural Sector On The Arkansas Economy In 2003, Jennie Popp, Nathan Kemper, Wayne Miller

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

Agriculture and associated agricultural activities are major contributors to the Arkansas economy. Agriculture is defined as the sum of agricultural production and processing activities, unless otherwise specified, and includes crop and animal production and processing, agricultural support industries, forestry and forest products, and textile goods. Agriculture contributes to the economy through direct agricultural production and value-added processing, and also leads to economic activity in other parts of the economy.

Lpe Center News, February 2007

Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Newsletters

In this issue:

• Nitrogen Availability from Organic Sources is the Topic of March Webcast

• LPE Webcasts Approved for Continuing Education Units

• Ag Research Service Website Offers Many Resources

• LPE Learning Center Website Adds Nutrient Resources, Expands Pathogen Section, and Offers an Archive of Past Webcasts

An Hsus Report: Human Health Implications Of U.S. Live Bird Markets In The Spread Of Avian Influenza, The Humane Society Of The United States

Impact of Animal Agriculture

After millions of years of existing as a harmless infection of aquatic birds, some strains of avian flu have developed the ability to mutate into highly pathogenic forms that may not only be deadly for birds, but potentially more dangerous for humans as well. Experts from the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have joined leading scientists in implicating industrialized poultry production for providing fertile ground for the transformation of benign bird flu into highly pathogenic strains.

Live bird markets can be the conduit by which waterfowl …

Their Bugs Are Worse Than Their Bite: Emerging Infectious Disease And The Human-Animal Interface, Michael Greger

State of the Animals 2007

In the twenty-five years since that announcement, what we now know as AIDS has killed 20 million people (National AIDS Trust 2005). Where did the AIDS virus— and other emerging diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola, mad cow— come from?

The Human/Animal Interface: Emergence And Resurgence Of Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Michael Greger

Transgenesis Collection

Emerging infectious diseases, most of which are considered zoonotic in origin, continue to exact a significant toll on society. The origins of major human infectious diseases are reviewed and the factors underlying disease emergence explored. Anthropogenic changes, largely in land use and agriculture, are implicated in the apparent increased frequency of emergence and reemergence of zoonoses in recent decades. Special emphasis is placed on the pathogen with likely the greatest zoonotic potential, influenzavirus A.

Grey Parrots Do Not Always ‘Parrot’: The Roles Of Imitation And Phonological Awareness In The Creation Of New Labels From Existing Vocalizations, Irene M. Pepperberg

Sentience Collection

Evidence exists for a form of imitation, vocal segmentation, by a Grey parrot. Data show that the bird understands that his labels are comprised of individual units that can be recombined in novel ways to create a novel referential vocalization; that is, a novel act. Previous data suggested, but could not substantiate, this behaviour. Such evidence implies that a parrot not only has phonological awareness but also demonstrates true imitation rather than mimicry, and has implications for the studies of both the evolution of communicative competence and the development of robotic speech.

Aquatic Animals, Cognitive Ethology, And Ethics: Questions About Sentience And Other Troubling Issues That Lurk In Turbid Water, Marc Bekoff

Sentience Collection

In this general, strongly pro-animal, and somewhat utopian and personal essay, I argue that we owe aquatic animals respect and moral consideration just as we owe respect and moral consideration to all other animal beings, regardless of the taxonomic group to which they belong. In many ways it is more difficult to convince some people of our ethical obligations to numerous aquatic animals because we do not identify or empathize with them as we do with animals with whom we are more familiar or to whom we are more closely related, including those species (usually terrestrial) to whom we refer …