Zoology Commons^™

American Society Of Parasitologists Newsletter, V. 36, Nos. 3-4, Fall-Winter 2014, Scott Lyell Gardner

American Society of Parasitologists: Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Non-Lethal Effects Of Climate Change On The Territoriality Of Lottia Gigantea, Tracey Gunanto, Christina Chavez, Jessica Martinez, William G. Wright

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The intertidal zone has been described as ground zero for global warming. Here, the owl limpet, Lottia gigantea, adapted to the cool ocean temperatures, must withstand a few hours of baking sun during day-time low tides. This hardship is predicted to increase in frequency and severity in the future as the globe warms. Our research hypothesized that heat events compromise territorial behavior of L. gigantea. All observations and experiments were performed at Inspiration Point near Newport Beach, California. We measured the natural radiant temperature of tagged limpets during day-time low tides using a field-calibrated infrared “thermogun”. We also …

Fall Field Report, August–November 2014, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

My first paragraph from last year's fall report read as follows: "In most ways, this was a routine fall season. Most interesting from an ongoing point of view were quite a large number of sightings of passerines at rather late dates, notably among Empidonax flycatchers, wood warblers, native sparrows, tanagers, towhees, grosbeaks, and buntings." This fall was no different; the trend seems to be that final sighting dates for many species are pushing against their latest expected dates.

There were several tidbits of interest, more or less unrelated, but perhaps most notable takeaways for the season were the number of …

Holdrege Fall Field Days, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

The 2014 NOU Fall Field Days took place in Holdrege at the Super 8 Motel on Sept. 19–21. There were about 35 in attendance at the meeting, which was organized by Dave Heidt and Betty Grenon.

On Friday evening Dave Heidt led a humor-filled discussion on bird songs and calls and ways to remember them, as audience members suggested their own mnemonic devices. On Saturday evening, T. J. Walker gave a presentation on the Nebraska Game and Parks' program of habitat rehabilitation to benefit Ring-necked Pheasants and other species. Field trip destinations on Saturday and on Sunday morning included Harlan …

Index To Volume 82

Nebraska Bird Review

Abegglen, Jeff 192
Abraham, K. F. 85
Aderman, T. 80
Addy, Darren 47
Adrian, Brad 47
Ahlschwede, Carla 40
Akers, Danny 100
Alberts: Byron 143; Deb 143
Alisaukis, R. T. 85
Allen: Edward 3, 48, 143, 153; Jan 48
Allison, Scott 49
American Ornithologists' Union 192

. . .

Wright, Rick 49
Wylie, Bruce 41

Yantachka, Jennifer 143
Yellowlegs: Greater 55, 88, 108, 160, 183; Lesser 56, 88, 108, 160, 183
Yellowtbroat, Common 26, 67, 91, 117, 175, 184

Zahurones, Penny 41
Ziolkowski, D. J. 80

Subscription And Organization Information [December 2014]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household (one or more people) $25; Sustaining …

In Memory Of Margaret Triplett

Nebraska Bird Review

The NOU lost a longtime member in Kearney on August 7, 2014, when Margaret Sealing Triplett died.

Summary Of Raptor Banding Efforts At Hitchcock Nature Center, Fall 2014, Jerry Toll

Nebraska Bird Review

The 2014 season was by far the most unusual and frustrating season since the inception of raptor banding and hawk watch at the Hitchcock Nature Center in Pottawatomie County, Iowa, just north of Crescent. Banding diurnal raptors commenced on September 7th on schedule. The month of September was typical as far as capture rates and weather systems, although we were stymied somewhat by the lack of availability of European Starlings for lure birds. House Sparrows proved a nearly adequate substitute.

During the peak period of October, weather systems that drive diurnal raptor migration worked against monitoring efforts by forcing migration …

First Documented Nest Of Northern Saw-Whet Owl In Nebraska, Wayne J. Mollhoff

Nebraska Bird Review

Northern Saw-whet Owl was added to our avifauna with a list prepared by Taylor and Van Vleet (1889). The first suggestion of breeding was a second-hand report included in a paper presented at the first meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union in 1899 by M. A. Carriker, Jr., who "was told of a set of five eggs collected near Nebraska City about seven years ago" (1900), but which included no other details. At the next meeting, Bruner (1901) cited that report to include the species on a list of birds that breed in the state. Bruner, Swenk, and Walcott later …

Nebraska Bird Review (December 2014) 82(4), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Fall Field Report, August–November 2014 ... 150

Holdrege Fall Field Days … 181

Summary of Raptor Banding Efforts at Hitchcock Nature Center, Fall 2014 ... 186

First Documented Nest of Northern Saw-whet Owl in Nebraska ... 189

In Memory of Margaret Triplett … 194

Index to Volume 82 … 195

Subscription and Organization Information ... 207

New Observations Of The Andean Ibis (Theristicus Branickii, Threskiornithidae): Distribution, Movements, And Behavior Near Volcán Antisana, Benjamin West

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Andean Ibis (Theristicus branickii) of the highland grasslands of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia is listed globally as Near Threatened and Critically Endangered in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian population is estimated at 100 individuals and is restricted to the vicinities of Volcán Antisana and Volcán Cotopaxi. Knowledge of the nesting biology of the Andean Ibis in Ecuador consists of a single filming in 1989. Much of its general ecology and movements is also unknown. The purpose of this study was to find evidence of nesting ibis in Ecuador while also collecting data on behavior, population, movements and interspecific interactions. Data was …

Wildlife Deterrence Method Test Device, Garrett Tietz, Adam Webb, Dane Knutson

Mechanical Engineering

The objective of the Deer Busters team is to design and build a device or system of devices that will be used to determine which method, or methods, are most effective at deer deterrence. JumpSport suspects that a method which gives the appearance of approach to the deer in an aggressive or startling manner but also changes the way it attacks so that the deer do not get used to the device will be most effective. Deer Busters is committed to the completion of the deer deterrent testing device by the end of the fall quarter of 2014.

Dialect Use Within A Socially Fluid Group Of Southern Resident Killer Whales, Orcinus Orca, Courtney Elizabeth Smith

Master's Theses

Resident killer whales, Orcinus orca, of the Northeastern Pacific form stable kinship-based matrifocal associations and communicate with group-specific repertoires of discrete calls (dialects) that reflect these associations. The gradual fission of matrilines is usually consistent with dialect variations among groups that may manifest as differences in call usage at the repertoire level or subtle structural differences of the calls themselves. Therefore, matrilines that are more closely related tend to be more acoustically similar. Within the endangered community of Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs), recent evidence shows that one particular group (L pod) exhibits the lowest rate of intrapod association …

Measuring The Role Of Inhibition In Auditory Discrimination In Mice, Tazima Nur

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how inhibitory neurons affect sensory information processing in the cerebral cortex is an ongoing goal of both neuroscience and statistical physics research. In this master's thesis research project, an experimental system has been designed and built for studying how auditory dynamic range depends on inhibitory neurons, based on observations of mouse behavior. In this thesis, firstly, the topic of inhibition and information processing has been introduced. Then two papers related to inhibition and dynamic range has been reviewed in detail. One of the papers is an experimental work that analyzes the affect of inhibition on dynamic range. The other …

Comparative Genomics Reveals Insights Into Avian Genome Evolution And Adaptation, Guojie Zhang, Cai Li, Qiye Li, Bo Li, Dennis M. Larkin, Chul Lee, Jay F. Storz, Agostinho Antunes, Matthew J. Greenwold, Robert W. Meredith, Anders Ödeen, Jie Cui, Qi Zhou, Luohao Xu, Hailin Pan, Zongji Wang, Lijun Jin, Pei Zhang, Haofu Hu, Wei Yang, Jiang Hu, Jin Xiao, Zhikai Yang, Yang Liu, Qiaolin Xie, Hao Yu, Jinmin Lian, Ping Wen, Fang Zhang, Hui Li, Yongli Zeng, Zijun Xiong, Shiping Liu, Long Zhou, Zhiyong Huang, Na An, Jie Wang, Quimei Zheng, Yingqi Xiong, Guangbiao Wang, Bo Wang, Jingjing Wang, Yu Fan, Rute R. Da Fonseca, Alonzo Alfaro-Núñez, Mikkel Schubert, Ludovic Orlando, Tobias Mourier, Jason T. Howard, Ganeshkumar Ganapathy, Andreas Pfenning, Osceola Whitney, Miriam V. Rivas, Erina Hara, Julia Smith, Marta Farré, Jitendra Narayan, Gancho Slavov, Michael N. Romanov, Rui Borges, João Paulo Machado, Imran Khan, Mark S. Springer, John Gatesy, Federico G. Hoffmann, Juan C. Opazo, Olle Håstad, Roger H. Sawyer, Heebal Kim, Kyu-Won Kim, Hyeon Jeong Kim, Seoae Cho, Ning Li, Yinhua Huang, Michael W. Bruford, Xiangjiang Zhan, Andrew Dixon, Mads F. Bertelsen, Elizabeth Derryberry, Wesley Warren, Richard K. Wilson, Shengbin Li, David A. Ray, Richard E. Green, Stephen J. O'Brien, Darren Griffin, Warren E. Johnson, David Haussler, Oliver A. Ryder, Eske Willerslev, Gary R. Graves, Per Alström, Jon Fjeldså, David P. Mindell, Scott V. Edwards, Edward L. Braun, Carsten Rahbek, David W. Burt, Peter Houde, Yong Zhang, Huanming Yang, Jian Wang, Avian Genome Consortium, Erich D. Jarvis, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Jun Wang

Jay F. Storz Publications

Birds are the most species-rich class of tetrapod vertebrates and have wide relevance across many research fields. We explored bird macroevolution using full genomes from 48 avian species representing all major extant clades. The avian genome is principally characterized by its constrained size, which predominantly arose because of lineage-specific erosion of repetitive elements, large segmental deletions, and gene loss. Avian genomes furthermore show a remarkably high degree of evolutionary stasis at the levels of nucleotide sequence, gene synteny, and chromosomal structure. Despite this pattern of conservation, we detected many non-neutral evolutionary changes in protein-coding genes and noncoding regions. These analyses …

Earthworm, Microbial Biomass, And Leaf Litter Decay Responses After Invasive Honeysuckle Shrub Removal From Urban Woodlands., Robert Preston Pipal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Invasive species are one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss and their presence can significantly impact the structure and function of native ecosystems. In this dissertation, the impacts of the invasive honeysuckle shrub, Lonicera maackii, on exotic earthworm populations, leaf litter decay responses, and inorganic and organic nutrient pools in an urban woodland park are assessed. Chapter 1 provides a brief review of honeysuckle's effects on forest ecosystems. Chapter 2 describes honeysuckle’s effects on exotic earthworm populations and the seasonal importance of macroinvertebrates to leaf litter decomposition in urban woodlands. This study revealed that L. maackii promoted higher exotic …

Managing Devil Facial Tumour Disease In Tasmanian Devils (Sarcophilus Harrisii): An Investigation Of Heat Shock Proteins As Potential Vaccine Adjuvants, Monika Payerhin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The world’s largest carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), is facing extinction from a deadly, highly communicable cancer that has already decimated over 85% of devil populations in the wild: devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). DFTD cells effectively evade recognition by the immune system, and every devil that contracts the disease dies from it. Many attempts have been made at developing a vaccine that could help save this now-threatened species. Heat shock proteins have been linked to enhanced immune recognition of pathogens, making them potential candidates for acting as adjuvants to such a vaccine against DFTD. In this study, …

New Study Of Altitude And Butterfly Diversity Evaluation Of Butterfly Diversity In La Hesperia And Influence Of Altitude On Diversity, Savannah Artusi

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Due to the increasing effects of climate change, studies focusing on bioindicator species are becoming more necessary than ever. Additionally, knowledge about global biodiversity can be very useful to conservation organizations because it helps them determine what areas need to be conserved the most .Butterflies are useful as bioindicators due to their complex life cycles, importance in the food chain, and sensitivity to environmental changes. This project focused on studying the overall biodiversity of butterflies in the La Hesperia reserve. In addition, this study aimed to determine how butterfly diversity varies at different altitudes. To do this, the reserve was …

Examining Predation As A Possible Means Of Controlling Crown-Of- Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster Planci) Outbreaks On Reefs Around Lizard Island, Australia, Amanda Chan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since the world’s coral reefs are currently threatened by a variety of different natural and anthropogenic factors, research on protecting coral reefs is pivotal to protect these diverse ecosystems. However, only Indo-Pacific reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef are dying due to a corallivorous echinoderm threat known as the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster planci). A. planci is a starfish which feeds on coral tissue and can quickly reduce coral cover on a reef during an outbreak. Although scientists are still unsure as to what causes these outbreaks, one suggestion is the predator-removal theory. The predator removal-theory states that major predators …

Evaluation Of Porcine Ipec-J2 Cell Line Growth Rate And Immune Response To E. Coli (0111:B4) Lps, Xiaofan Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to evaluate the intestinal porcine epithelial cell-jejunum 2 (IPEC-J2) cell line as a model to study the innate immune function of live pigs. Growth rates of IPEC-J2 cells in T-75 flasks and 96-well plates were evaluated using a hemocytometer and spectrophotometer for cell quantity measurements to determine growth rate and doubling time. Growth rates of IPEC-J2 cells in T-75 flasks and 96-well plates were 0.4016 and 0.2851 times of doubling/day respectively with a doubling time of 1.73 d and 2.43 d, respectively. Confluent IPEC-J2 monolayers were tested at five time intervals (0, 1, 2, …

Central Administration Of Neuropeptide Y (Npy) And Vasotocin 4 Receptor (Vt4r/V1ar) Antagonists On Food Intake And A Stress Response In Chicks, Megan Ann Hancock

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to determine the central effect of the VT4R antagonists (SR-49059 and H-5350 (Manning compound)) on corticosterone (CORT) levels during stress and food intake. A 22-gauge stainless steel guide cannula was surgically implanted into the lateral ventricle of the birds. A preliminary study was done to test the antagonists and their role on food intake. Birds were injected with saline, NPY (4µg), NPY (4µg)+SR-49059 (250ng), or NPY (4µg)+Manning compound (250ng). Birds injected with saline had the lowest 1h food intake (17.7g1.6). Birds injected with NPY+saline had a significantly higher intake (27.1g 1.0), which was enhanced …

Freeing Nemo, Stephanie K. Adamczak

SURGE

Floating on the surface of the water, I observe the life teeming below me. The waves were carrying my body further and further into the beautiful reef; but all I was conscious of was the cleaner wrasse below bouncing from fish to fish, the parrotfish scraping algae from the coral, and the anemone protecting the ornate clownfish living within. [excerpt]

Restoration Of Bison (Bison Bison) To Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, A Feasibility Study, Daniel S. Licht

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a 3,057-acre park located in western Nebraska. The unit is comprised of northern mixed-grass prairie vegetation, typical of the Northern Great Plains. Weather, fire, and grazing are generally considered to be the ecological drivers of prairie ecosystems and critical for prairie health. However, grazing has essentially been absent since the 1960s. In 2014, a Department of the Interior report explicitly listed the park as a high priority for bison restoration. This report evaluates the feasibility, management options, benefits, and challenges of restoring bison to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

A potential bison …

Contact Zone Of The Eastern And Western Marsh Wrens In Nebraska Revisited, Mark B. Robbins

Nebraska Bird Review

Across the northern and coastal United States and southern central Canada the Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) is a widespread breeder in cattail-dominated marshes. Although it has long been considered to be polytypic based on subtle plumage characters (Parkes 1959; Phillips 1986), it was not until Kroodsma (1989, 2005) demonstrated that there was a dramatic break in the primary (song) vocalization in the northern Great Plains that anyone suggested more than one species was involved. In 1986, as part of the delineation of the breeding distribution of both vocal types, Kroodsma (1988; see map therein) audio recorded wrens at …

Nebraska Bird Review (September 2014) 82(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June–July 2014 ... 98

Stomach Content Analysis of Recent Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) Specimens from Nebraska … 122

Contact Zone of the Eastern and Western Marsh Wrens in Nebraska Revisited ... 128

2013 (25th) Report of the NOU Records Committee ... 131

Subscription and Organization Information ... 147

Summer Field Report, June–July 2014, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This summer was marked by the "unremarkability," if there is such a thing, of the status of almost all species, especially passerines. A stark exception, however, was the pair of summering hummingbirds in a yard a few miles southeast of Chadron: Juanita Whittecar sent a collection of very good photos of these birds, detailed enough to determine that the pair of supposed Ruby-throated Hummingbirds actually consisted of a female Ruby-throated and a hybrid Ruby-throated x Broad-tailed male. Another odd phenomenon was the number of shorebird species with late Jun records, usually the brief window within which these species are absent …

Subscription And Organization Information [September 2014]

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101.

Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active Household (one or more people) $25; Sustaining …

2013 (25th) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The "Official List of the Birds of Nebraska" was first published in 1988 (NOU 1988) and has been updated three times (NOURC 1997, 2004, 2009). The "Official List" has been appended twenty-three times: (Mollhoff 1989; Grenon 1990, 1991; Gubanyi 1996a, 1996b, 1996c; Brogie 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009a, 2009b, 2011, 2012, 2013; Jorgensen 2001, 2002, 2003).

The American Ornithologists' Union Checklist of North American Birds, Seventh Edition (1998) and its following supplements: (AOU: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) contain many taxonomic changes affecting North American birds.

The …

Stomach Content Analysis Of Recent Snowy Owl (Bubo Scandiacus) Specimens From Nebraska, Rachel L. Valenziano, Thomas E. Labedz

Nebraska Bird Review

The Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a circumpolar bird of prey that breeds in extreme northern latitudes, including Canadian and Alaskan tundra. During winter months, some immature and non-breeding birds disperse south. North American birds may travel to southern Canada and northern parts of the United States, and in some extreme cases as far south as Oklahoma and Texas (Parmelee 1992). Although not fully understood, these irruptive events may be caused by the abundance of prey in northern Canada and Alaska (Parmelee 1992).

Prey typical of Snowy Owls are small mammals (e.g., lemmings and hares) of their home range and …

Natural Infections Of Tetrathyridia Of Mesocestoides Species In Deer Mice, Peromyscus Maniculatus, From New Mexico, John E. Ubelaker, Nora Abdullah, Aya Mouhaffel, Rashmi Ananadampillair, Caitlyn Emigh, Scott Lyell Gardner

Papers in Parasitology

At Southern Methodist University campus about 6 miles south of Taos, New Mexico, we recovered tetrathyridia of Mesocestoides in five Peromyscus maniculatus in the summers of 2008 (3 of 129, 0.023%), 2009 (0 of 98, 0%), 2010 (1 of 112, 0.008%), 2011 (0 of 88, 0%), and 2012 (1 of 86, 0.011%). Tetrathyridia from the body cavity of one of the five infected mice were injected into the peritoneal cavity of laboratory white mice, Mus musculus. Our later examination of the laboratory mice revealed heavy infections of tetrathyridia continuing to reproduce asexually. Here we provide important new information on …