Other Animal Sciences Commons^™

Isoflupredone Acetate As Ancillary Therapy For Bovine Respiratory Disease In High-Risk Stocker Calves, Claire E. Crews

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the leading cause of illness and death in U.S. feedlot cattle. This study evaluated the use of isoflupredone acetate in the treatment of BRD. Crossbred male beef calves (n = 192; BW = 221 ± 3.9 kg) were acquired in two blocks from regional auction markets and transported to the University of Arkansas Stocker and Receiving Cattle Unit. Calves were observed daily for signs of respiratory illness. Antibiotic treatment was administered if calves displayed signs of respiratory illness and rectal temperature was ≥ 40 °C. Calves (n = 72) requiring antibiotic treatment were assigned randomly …

A Male Spider’S Ornamentation Polymorphism Maintained By Opposing Selection With Two Niches, Bo Deng, Alex Estes, Brett Grieb, Douglas Richard, Brittney Hinds, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

The Levene mechanism to maintain genotypic polymorphism by opposing selection on genotypes in multiple niches was proposed 60 years ago, and yet no systems were found to satisfy the mechanisms rather restrictive conditions. Reported here is such an example that a wolf spider population lives in a habitat of mixed rocks and leafy litter for which the females are phenotypically indistinguishable and the males have two distinct phenotypes subject to opposing selection with respect to the substrates. Census data is best-fitted to a population genetics model of the Levene type. A majority of the best fit support polymorphism, with many …

Balking Incidence And Behavioral Responses During Handling In Fed Cattle With Genetic And Carcass Implications, Michelle Lynn Thomas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Temperament in cattle is often defined as the reactivity to human handling or novel environments. Temperament differences have been shown among breed-type categories, within breed types, among crossbreds, and between sexes. Temperament tests are typically completed at weaning time on beef cattle, and rarely on fed Holstein steers for beef production. Balking behavior, or cease in forward motion, in the cattle working facility can pose welfare issues as the electric prod use to coerce movement is implemented. Three observational field projects were designed to evaluate balking behavior incidence in unknown breed-types at the processing plant, Holstein steers in the feedlot …

Choice And Control Of Enrichment For A Rescued And Rehabilitated Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Trunactus), Hannah Bahe

Honors Theses

Animals living under human care experience stress related to a lack of control over t environment. One way to remedy this is through the use of cognitive enrichment, su choice and control of enrichment. This type of enrichment has been shown to have benefits for animals under human care including increased activity and social interactions. To determine if choice and control was more beneficial than enrichmen alone, a three year old male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) was ex to novel enrichment items in two experimental conditions. For the first condition, th animal was given a novel object. During the …

Effects Of Conventional And Alternative Curing Methods On Processed Turkey Quality Traits, Amy Lynn Redfield

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study compared physicochemical and sensory qualities of deli-style turkey breast produced pre-converted celery juice powder (CP; for alternative curing) or sodium nitrite (SN; for conventional curing). Formulas were designed to include 0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 ppm ingoing sodium nitrite or the equivalent from CP or SN, and 3 replicates of products were manufactured. Turkey and curing brines were tumbled, stuffed, and cooked to an internal temperature of 73.9^oC. Products were stabilized and sliced into 12 mm slices (physicochemical trait analysis) and 2 mm slices (sensory trait analysis). Physicochemical traits measured only on d 0 were …

Life History Tradeoffs And The Costs Of Reproduction In Arizona Bark Scorpions (Centruroides Sculpturatus), Michael Marie Webber

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Tradeoffs in life history evolution result from conflicts in the time and energy that can be simultaneously invested in activities such as growth, reproduction, and survival. Reproduction is an energetically costly activity for organisms, and is known to elicit alterations in the daily activity patterns of individuals. I investigated reproductive tradeoffs in the Arizona Bark Scorpion,Centruroides sculpturatus. To better understand the nature of tradeoffs in this species, I examined the influence of reproductive state on the predatory efficiency and thermal preference of reproductive females. Further, I examined the influence of reproductive activities (i.e. gestation) on the ability of reproductive females …

Pronghorn (Antilocapra Americana) Offspring Recruitment On The Carrizo Plain National Monument: Evaluating The Effects Of Low Population Density And Marginal Habitat Quality., Diego Ramirez Johnson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Demographic fluctuation among ungulate populations is strongly linked to variability in recruitment. Rates of recruitment are subject to various forms of density-dependent and density-independent regulation. For species which benefit from the presence of conspecifics, reduced population density can decrease rates of recruitment and trigger a decline in per capita growth. Termed the Allee effect, this scenario can cause demographic collapse and population extinction. For many ungulate species, predation on juveniles is reduced when the timing and distribution of births is synchronized within a local population. Because birth synchrony is density-dependent, it may act as a mechanism for the Allee effect …

Approaches To Canine Health Surveillance, Dan G. O'Neill, David B. Church, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Peter C. Thomson, Dave C. Brodbelt

Epidemiology Collection

Effective canine health surveillance systems can be used to monitor disease in the general population, prioritise disorders for strategic control and focus clinical research, and to evaluate the success of these measures. The key attributes for optimal data collection systems that support canine disease surveillance are representativeness of the general population, validity of disorder data and sustainability. Limitations in these areas present as selection bias, misclassification bias and discontinuation of the system respectively. Canine health data sources are reviewed to identify their strengths and weaknesses for supporting effective canine health surveillance. Insurance data benefit from large and well-defined denominator populations …

Exclusion Performance In Dwarf Goats (Capra Aegagrus Hircus) And Sheep (Ovis Orientalis Aries), Christian Nawroth, Eberhard Von Borell, Jan Langbein

Learning Ability Collection

Using a comparative approach, we investigated the ability of dwarf goats and sheep to use direct and indirect information about the location of a food reward in an object-choice task. Subjects had to choose between two cups with only one covering a reward. Before making a choice, subjects received information about the baited (direct information) or nonbaited cup (indirect information). Both goats and sheep were able to use direct information (presence of food) in the object choice task. After controlling for local enhancement, we found that goats rather than sheep were able to use indirect information (i.e., the absence of …

Goats Excel At Learning And Remembering A Highly Novel Cognitive Task, Elodie F. Briefer, Samaah Haque, Luigi Baciadonna, Alan G. Mcelligott

Sentience Collection

Introduction: The computational demands of sociality (maintaining group cohesion, reducing conflict) and ecological problems (extractive foraging, memorizing resource locations) are the main drivers proposed to explain the evolution cognition. Different predictions follow, about whether animals would preferentially learn new tasks socially or not, but the prevalent view today is that intelligent species should excel at social learning. However, the predictions were originally used to explain primate cognition, and studies of species with relatively smaller brains are rare. By contrast, domestication has often led to a decrease in brain size, which could affect cognition. In domestic animals, the relaxed selection pressures …

Hymenolepis Robertrauschi N. Sp. From Grasshopper Mice Onychomys Spp. In New Mexico And Nebraska, U.S.A., Scott Lyell Gardner, Brent A. Luedders, Donald W. Duszynski

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

From 1989 through 1998, a total of 358 grasshopper mice were collected and examined for helminth and protistan parasites from several habitat types on the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in New Mexico, U.S.A. Of these, 205 individuals were identified as Onychomys leucogaster (Wied-Neuwied 1841) and 153 individuals were classified as O. arenicola Mearns 1896. Many individuals of Onychomys were infected with a new species of Hymenolepididae (Hymenolepis robertrauschi), which is herein described, illustrated, and compared with all species of Nearctic Hymenolepis s. str. Hymenolepis robertrauschi was found in 26% of the individuals of O. arenicola …

Investigating A Role For The Ccaat/Enhancer-Binding Protein Δ In The Developing Zebrafish, Alisha Jennifer Beirl

Dissertations and Theses

The CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein delta (C/EBPδ) is a highly conserved transcription factor capable of regulating numerous cell fate processes, such as cell growth, differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. C/EBPδ is inducible during cellular stress responses, including inflammation and responses to growth factor deprivation or thermal stress. C/EBPδ is stress-inducible in a diversity of fishes, including the zebrafish Danio rerio; however, little is known about its role in fish development. Here I show that overexpression of C/EBPδ leads to severe developmental defects, including reduced body length, edema, liver malformation and retinal abnormalities. The proportion of individuals that display developmental abnormalities is significantly …

Testing The Feasibility Of Bioacoustic Localization In Urban Environments, Blaire O'Neal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bioacoustics is a relatively new field of research focused on studying the acoustic signals of vocal animal species. The field has been a topic of interest for many years due its passive approach and avoidance of species-level limitations, such as tracking rare or nocturnal species. It has been used to locate birds in terrestrial environments; however, localization in urban environments remains unstudied. This research aims to fill the gap by attempting to estimate the location of 30 discrete calls in eight unique, urban environments. Sites represented two distinct traffic scenarios: moderate traffic and high traffic. Three system arrays of three …

A Literature Review On Injection-Site Lesions In Dairy Cows And Culling Decisions, Eric B. Parsons

Dairy Science

Currently dairy producers face particular problems concerning their culled cows and bulls, these problems must be addressed so dairy producers have the opportunity to improve the quality of beef produced from their cull dairy cows. At the moment, not much is known about culling decisions outside “break-even” numbers and poor cow conditioning. This literature review outlines the strategy behind culling decisions and looks into potential plans to develop progressive body conditioning and quality of meat sent to auction. Currently the dairy industry is not placing much demand into providing the livestock auctions and harvest plants with higher quality meat. This …

Fallow Bucks Attend To Vocal Cues Of Motivation And Fatigue, Benjamin J. Pitcher, Elodie F. Briefer, Elisabetta Vannoni, Alan G. Mcelligott

Sentience Collection

Vocalizations encode a range of information about the caller, and variation in calling behavior and vocal structure may provide listeners with information about the motivation and condition of the caller. Fallow bucks only vocalize during the breeding season and can produce more than 3000 groans per hour. Males modulate their calling rates, calling faster when other calling males and/or females are nearby. Groans also reveal caller fatigue, becoming shorter and higher pitched toward the end of the rut. Thus, fallow deer groans vary both over very short (minute to minute) and longer timescales (the rut). However, no studies have investigated …

Learning And Memory In The Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus Portusjacksoni, Tristan L. Guttridge, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Basic understanding of the fundamental principles and mechanisms involved in learning is lacking for elasmobranch fishes. Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the learning and memory capacity of juvenile Port Jackson sharks, Heterodontus portusjacksoni. Sharks (N = 30) were conditioned over a 19-day period to associate an underwater LED light or stream of air-bubbles [conditioned stimulus (CS)] with a food reward [unconditioned stimulus (US)], using three procedures (delay, trace and control). During experiments, the CS signalled at a random time between 180 and 300 s for 30 s (six times per day). For the delay the US …

Prevalence Of Disorders Recorded In Dogs Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices In England, Dan G. O'Neill, David B. Church, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Peter C. Thomson, Dave C. Brodbelt

Epidemiology Collection

Purebred dog health is thought to be compromised by an increasing occurence of inherited diseases but inadequate prevalence data on common disorders have hampered efforts to prioritise health reforms. Analysis of primary veterinary practice clinical data has been proposed for reliable estimation of disorder prevalence in dogs. Electronic patient record (EPR) data were collected on 148,741 dogs attending 93 clinics across central and south-eastern England. Analysis in detail of a random sample of EPRs relating to 3,884 dogs from 89 clinics identified the most frequently recorded disorders as otitis externa (prevalence 10.2%, 95% CI: 9.1–11.3), periodontal disease (9.3%, 95% CI: …

Personality Affects Learning And Trade-Offs Between Private And Social Information In Guppies, Poecilia Reticulate, Larissa Trompf, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

The acquisition of information such as the location and quality of food, mates or shelter is a key survival requirement for animals. Individuals can acquire information through personal experience (private information) or through observing and interacting with others (social information). Environmental spatial and temporal heterogeneity can mean that sometimes social information conflicts with private knowledge. We tested how personality affected the importance placed on public versus private information in wild female guppies when these two information sources came into conflict. We found that boldness and sociality affected decisions to use conflicting social and private information. Bolder females used social information …

Biochemical Analysis Of Blood Of Native Cattle In The Hilly Area Of Bangladesh, M. A. Mamun, M. M. Hassan, A. H. Shaikat, S.K.M.A. Islam, M. A. Hoque, M. Uddin, M. B. Hossain

Biochemistry Collection

A yearlong study was carried out in indigenous cattle of five upazila namely Khagrachari Sadar, Laxmichari, Matiranga, Mahalchari and Dighinala in Khagrachari Hill District, Bangladesh for determination of statuses of various biochemical parameters. Apparently healthy cattle (100) were selected and blood samples were collected aseptically. Biochemical analysis of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, electrolytes and enzymes were performed by using automated biochemical analyzer (Humalizer®-3000). The results showed that, the variations of parameters were not significant (P>0.05) between male and female. Although there was a slight increase of calcium 8.01±0.32mg/dl, glucose 69.21±2.31mg/dl, LDL 5.69±0.22mg/dl and uric acid 3.85±0.34mg/dl of female compared …

An Illustrated Id Guide To The Crayfishes Found In Nebraska Native And Non-Native, Steve Schainost

Nebraska Invasive Species Program

There are five crayfishes native to Nebraska. These are:

Orconectes immunis (papershell crayfish)

Orconectes virilis (northern crayfish)

Orconectes neglectus neglectus (ringed crayfish)

Cambarus diogenes (Devil crayfish)

Procambarus gracilis (prairie crayfish)

Three additional non-native crayfishes have also been found here:

Orconectes rusticus (rusty crayfish) [bait tanks and established in two ponds in Omaha]

Procambarus clarkii (red swamp crayfish) [bait tanks]

Procambarus acutus (White River crayfish) [bait tanks]

I will attempt here to provide a photographic guide to field identification, one species per page.

Empathy In Other Apes, Kristin Andrews, Lori Gruen

Sentience Collection

A number of scholars have offered behavioral and physiological arguments in favor of the existence of empathy in other species (see Bekoff & Pierce 2009, Flack & de Waal 2000, Plutchik 1987). While the evidence is compelling, claims about empathy in nonhuman apes face two different challenges. The first challenge comes from a set of empirical findings that suggest great apes are not able to think about other’s beliefs. The argument here is based on a view that empathy is associated with folk psychological understanding of others’ mental states, or mindreading, and the existence of mindreading among the other apes …

What Do Zebrafish Want? Impact Of Social Grouping, Dominance And Gender On Preference For Enrichment, Paul Schroeder, Soffia Jones, Iain S. Young, Lynne U. Sneddon

Sentience Collection

Although environmental enrichment is known to improve laboratory rodent wellbeing and enhance scientific data collection, relatively little is known with regards to the type of enrichment that might be useful for zebrafish (Danio rerio). Therefore, this study explored if zebrafish displayed preferences for a range of enrichments, including substrates, artificial plants, combinations thereof and airstones. Tanks divided into two compartments containing different enrichment cues were used to determine the preferences of zebrafish housed in pairs and groups of eight. When comparing time spent in enriched versus barren compartments, dominant individuals in a pair displayed a preference for substrate and behaviourally …

Individual Personality Traits Influence Group Exploration In A Feral Guppy Population, Culum Brown, Eleanor Irving

Sentience Collection

We examined whether variation in group exploratory behavior was linked with variation in personality traits (boldness, activity, and sociability) in a population of feral guppies (Poecilia reticulata). A huge amount of variation was observed in dispersal tendency between shoals. Surprisingly, no significant correlations were found between group exploratory behavior and average group personality scores, which suggests that the movement of the shoal was not generated by group conformity. However, our analysis revealed correlations between group exploration and the activity score of the least active member of a group and the sociality index of the most social member of a group. …

Acoustic Divergence In The Rut Vocalizations Of Persian And European Fallow Deer, J. B. Stachowicz, E. Vannoni, B. J. Pitcher, Elodie F. Briefer, E. Geffen, A. G. Mcelligott

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

We conducted a study of the male rut vocalizations (groans) of two closely related species, Persian and European fallow deer. Persian fallow deer are endangered, restricted to Iran and Israel, and their rut vocalizations have never been studied. By contrast, European fallow deer are one of the most common deer species in the world, and have been the subject of numerous detailed studies. Persian bucks are approximately 16% larger than European bucks, and this can have important implications for vocalizations. Persian bucks were recorded in Israel, and European bucks were recorded in the UK and Ireland. We measured temporal, fundamental …

Apes Communicate About Absent And Displaced Objects: Methodology Matters, Heidi Lyn, Jamie L. Russell, David A. Leavens, Kim A. Bard, Sarah T. Boysen, Jennifer A. Schaeffer, William D. Hopkins

Sentience Collection

Displaced reference is the ability to refer to an item that has been moved (displaced) in space and/ or time, and has been called one of the true hallmarks of referential communication. Several studies suggest that nonhuman primates have this capability, but a recent experiment concluded that in a specific situation (absent entities) human infants display displaced reference but chimpanzees do not. Here we show that chimpanzees and bonobos of diverse rearing histories are capable of displaced reference to absent and displaced objects. It is likely that some of the conflicting findings from animal cognition studies are due to relatively …

Effect Of Confinement On Water-Borne And Whole Body Cortisol In Wild And Captive-Eared Rainbowfish (Melanoteania Duboulayi), Amina Zuberi, Culum Brown, Sinan Ali

Physiology Collection

Whole body and water-borne cortisol levels were measured in captive reared and wild Rainbowfish (Melanoteania duboulayi Castelnau 1878) subjected to social isolation by confining them in a beaker for 30 min to induce an acute stress response. Wild fish had higher levels of cortisol before and after exposure to a mild stressor and also showed the greatest stress response. The differences in stress responses are likely the result of artificial selection in the captive environment. Importantly, there was a strong linear relationship between whole body and water-borne cortisol in wild and captive reared populations (r² =0. 95 and 0.84, …

Stress And Reproductive Hormones Reflect Inter-Specific Social And Nutritional Conditions Mediated By Resource Availability In A Bear–Salmon System, Heather M. Bryan, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, Katherine E. Wynne-Edwards, Judit E. G. Smits

Physiology Collection

Food availability can influence the nutritional and social dynamics within and among species. Our investigation focused on grizzly and black bears in coastal British Columbia, Canada, where recent and dramatic declines in their primary prey (salmon) raise concerns about potentially negative effects on bear physiology. We examined how salmon availability relates to stress and reproductive hormones in coastal grizzly (n = 69) and black bears (n = 68) using cortisol and testosterone. In hair samples from genotyped individuals, we quantified salmon consumption using stable isotope analysis and hormone levels by enzyme immunoassay. To estimate the salmon biomass available to each …

Employee Engagement In An Animal Research Facility, Joni L. Scott

2010-2016 Archived Posters

Disengaged employees can compromise organizational growth. In this qualitative, single-case study, participants discussed their perceptions leading to engagement or disengagement while working at the facility. The characterization of the negative organizational and social effects of employee disengagement may lead to improvements in employee satisfaction, business growth, integrity, and animal welfare.

Miscellaneous Fish Helminth Parasite (Trematoda, Cestoidea, Nematoda, Acanthocephala) Records From Arkansas, C. T. Mcallister, C. R. Bursey, H. W. Robison, D. A. Neely, M. B. Connior, M. A. Barger

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Between June 2012 and January 2014, 147 fishes (10 species) within five families were collected from watersheds in 8 counties of Arkansas and examined for helminth parasites. Almost every fish species examined harbored at least one or more helminth parasite, including 5 trematodes (Alloglossidium sp., Plagioporus sp., Crepidostomum sp., Clinostomum marginatum and unknown metacercaria), 2 cestodes (unknown cyclophyllidean cysticerci and Corallotaenia parva), 3 nematodes (Spiroxys sp., Capillaria catostomi, and Eustrongylides sp.), and 3 acanthocephalans (unknown cystacanths, Neoechinorhynchus sp., and Leptorhynchoides sp.). We document 16 new host and 2 new distributional records for these helminths. In addition, this is the first …

Epistasis In Predator-Prey Relationships, Iuliia Inozemtseva

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Epistasis is the interaction between two or more genes to control a single phenotype. We model epistasis of the prey in a two-locus two-allele problem in a basic predator- prey relationship. The resulting model allows us to examine both population sizes as well as genotypic and phenotypic frequencies. In the context of several numerical examples, we show that if epistasis results in an undesirable or desirable phenotype in the prey by making the particular genotype more or less susceptible to the predator or dangerous to the predator, elimination of undesirable phenotypes and then genotypes occurs.