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Articles 5101 - 5130 of 10521

Full-Text Articles in Zoology

Sentience And Animal Welfare: Affirming The Science And Addressing The Skepticism, Nancy Clarke Jan 2016

Sentience And Animal Welfare: Affirming The Science And Addressing The Skepticism, Nancy Clarke

Animal Sentience

Broom’s (2014) book is a well-researched and thoroughly written exploration and evaluation of the journey from the origins of animal welfare science to what we can say we now know and need to consider in relation to animal sentience and welfare. This book will help to counter any skepticism among academics and policy makers.

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Population Genetic Structure Of Necturus Maculosus In Central And Eastern Kentucky, Mason Owen Murphy Jan 2016

Population Genetic Structure Of Necturus Maculosus In Central And Eastern Kentucky, Mason Owen Murphy

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Population structure is influenced by extrinsic factors, such as landscape architecture and dispersal barriers. Lotic network architecture is known to constrain ecological, demographic and evolutionary processes, including population genetic structure. I assessed the population structure of a widespread aquatic salamander, Necturus maculosus, across three river basins in central and eastern Kentucky. I examined the role of network architecture, anthropogenic barriers, and spatial scale on patterns of population structure. I also provided a review of N. maculosus capture methods and offer an improved trap design. I identified significant structuring between the combined Licking/Kinniconick basin and the Kentucky River basin, with …

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New Verified Nonindigenous Amphibians And Reptiles In Florida Through 2015, With A Summary Of More Than 152 Years Of Introductions, Kenneth L. Krysko, Louis A. Somma, Dustin C. Smith, Christopher R. Gillette, Daniel Cueva, Joseph A. Wasilewski, Kevin M. Enge, Steve A. Johnson, Todd S. Campbell, Jake R. Edwards, Michael R. Rochford, Ryan Tompkins, Jeffrey L. Fobb, Scott Mullin, Christopher J. Lechowicz, Dallas Hazelton, Alície Warren Jan 2016

New Verified Nonindigenous Amphibians And Reptiles In Florida Through 2015, With A Summary Of More Than 152 Years Of Introductions, Kenneth L. Krysko, Louis A. Somma, Dustin C. Smith, Christopher R. Gillette, Daniel Cueva, Joseph A. Wasilewski, Kevin M. Enge, Steve A. Johnson, Todd S. Campbell, Jake R. Edwards, Michael R. Rochford, Ryan Tompkins, Jeffrey L. Fobb, Scott Mullin, Christopher J. Lechowicz, Dallas Hazelton, Alície Warren

Papers in Herpetology

More nonindigenous species occur in Florida, USA, than any other region worldwide and may threaten many of Florida’s natural resources. The frequency of new reports mandates the need for regular updates. Herein, we use photographic and specimen vouchers in addition to literature records to provide updated information on verified nonindigenous amphibians and reptiles in Florida. Between our most recent summary in 2012 and the end of 2015, 38 additional species are known to have been intercepted (n = 2) or introduced (n = 36). We also update the invasion stage of seven species previously reported from Florida and …

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Evidence Of Rock Kangaroo Seed Dispersal Via Faecal Seed Storage In A Tropical Monsoon Community, Chris Martine, Ally Boni, Elizabeth Capaldi, Gemma Lionheart, Ingrid E. Jordon-Thaden Jan 2016

Evidence Of Rock Kangaroo Seed Dispersal Via Faecal Seed Storage In A Tropical Monsoon Community, Chris Martine, Ally Boni, Elizabeth Capaldi, Gemma Lionheart, Ingrid E. Jordon-Thaden

Faculty Journal Articles

While some of the plant species of the ‘Sandstone Country’ along the escarpment of western Arnhem Land produce fleshy fruits and appear to rely on biotic methods of seed dispersal, little is known about the methods by which this is achieved – and few potential dispersers co-occur in the sandstone outcrop communities. For the present study, scat collections were made on outcrops in the northeastern area of Kakadu National Park with the hope of uncovering relationships between local frugivores and fruit-producers, and providing evidence for seasonal storage of mammal-dispersed seeds in scat prior to germination. The goals of the present …

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Why Fish Do Not Feel Pain, Brian Key Jan 2016

Why Fish Do Not Feel Pain, Brian Key

Animal Sentience

Only humans can report feeling pain. In contrast, pain in animals is typically inferred on the basis of nonverbal behaviour. Unfortunately, these behavioural data can be problematic when the reliability and validity of the behavioural tests are questionable. The thesis proposed here is based on the bioengineering principle that structure determines function. Basic functional homologies can be mapped to structural homologies across a broad spectrum of vertebrate species. For example, olfaction depends on olfactory glomeruli in the olfactory bulbs of the forebrain, visual orientation responses depend on the laminated optic tectum in the midbrain, and locomotion depends on pattern generators …

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Cognitive Evidence Of Fish Sentience, Jonathan Balcombe Jan 2016

Cognitive Evidence Of Fish Sentience, Jonathan Balcombe

Animal Sentience

I present a little-known example of flexible, opportunistic behavior by a species of fish to undermine Key’s (2016) thesis that fish are unconscious and unable to feel. Lack of a cortex is flimsy grounds for denying pain to fish, for on that criterion we must also then deny it to all non-mammals, including birds, which goes against scientific consensus. Notwithstanding science’s fundamental inability to prove anything, the precautionary principal dictates that we should give the benefit of the doubt to fish, and the state of the oceans dictates that we act on it now.

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Comparative Evolutionary Approach To Pain Perception In Fishes, Culum Brown Jan 2016

Comparative Evolutionary Approach To Pain Perception In Fishes, Culum Brown

Animal Sentience

Arguments against the fact that fish feel pain repeatedly appear even in the face of growing evidence that they do. The standards used to judge pain perception keep moving as the hurdles are repeatedly cleared by novel research findings. There is undoubtedly a vested commercial interest in proving that fish do not feel pain, so the topic has a half-life well past its due date. Key (2016) reiterates previous perspectives on this topic characterised by a black-or-white view that is based on the proposed role of the human cortex in pain perception. I argue that this is incongruent with our …

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Should Fish Feel Pain? A Plant Perspective, František Baluška Jan 2016

Should Fish Feel Pain? A Plant Perspective, František Baluška

Animal Sentience

Key (2016) claims fish that fish do not feel pain because they lack the necessary neuronal architecture: their responses to noxious stimuli, according to Key, are executed automatically without any feelings. However, as pointed out by many of his commentators, this conclusion is not convincing. Plants might provide some clues. Plants are not usually thought to be very active behaviorally, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Moreover, in stressful situations, plants produce numerous chemicals that have painkilling and anesthetic properties. Finally, plants, when treated with anesthetics, cannot execute active behaviors such as touch-induced leaf movements or rapid trap closures after localizing …

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Mediating Claims Through Critical Anthropomorphism, Gordon Burghardt Jan 2016

Mediating Claims Through Critical Anthropomorphism, Gordon Burghardt

Animal Sentience

Key’s (2016) discussion of his claim that fish do not feel pain ignores the history of attempts to study the attribution of mental states to other species. Although willing to accept that mammals feel pain, Key claims that fish lack the mammalian neural mechanisms underlying pain and are unconscious of their experiences. Consequently, we do not need to be overly concerned about fishing practices that would otherwise be viewed as painful. Key uses a flawed anthropomorphic lens. All attributions of mental events to organisms other than oneself involve inferences derived from anthropomorphic processes through which we process physiological and behavioral …

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Fish Lack The Brains And The Psychology For Pain, Stuart W.G. Derbyshire Jan 2016

Fish Lack The Brains And The Psychology For Pain, Stuart W.G. Derbyshire

Animal Sentience

Debate about the possibility of fish pain focuses largely on the fish’s lack of the cortex considered necessary for generating pain. That view is appealing because it avoids relatively abstract debate about the nature of pain experience and subjectivity. Unfortunately, however, that debate cannot be entirely avoided. Subcortical circuits in the fish might support an immediate, raw, “pain” experience. The necessity of the cortex only becomes obvious when considering pain as an explicitly felt subjective experience. Attributing pain to fish only seems absurd when pain is considered as a state of explicit knowing.

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Brain Processes For “Good” And “Bad” Feelings: How Far Back In Evolution?, Jaak Panksepp Jan 2016

Brain Processes For “Good” And “Bad” Feelings: How Far Back In Evolution?, Jaak Panksepp

Animal Sentience

The question of whether fish can experience pain or any other feelings can only be resolved by neurobiologically targeted experiments. This commentary summarizes why this is essential for resolving scientific debates about consciousness in other animals, and offers specific experiments that need to be done: (i) those that evaluate the rewarding and punishing effects of specific brain regions and systems (for instance, with deep-brain stimulation); (ii) those that evaluate the capacity of animals to regulate their affective states; and (iii) those that have direct implications for human affective feelings, with specific predictions — for instance, the development of new treatments …

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Pain In Fish: Weighing The Evidence, James D. Rose Jan 2016

Pain In Fish: Weighing The Evidence, James D. Rose

Animal Sentience

The target article by Key (2016) examines whether fish have brain structures capable of mediating pain perception and consciousness, functions known to depend on the neocortex in humans. He concludes, as others have concluded (Rose 2002, 2007; Rose et al. 2014), that such functions are impossible for fish brains. This conclusion has been met with hypothetical assertions by others to the effect that functions of pain and consciousness may well be possible through unknown alternate neural processes. Key's argument would be bolstered by consideration of other neurological as well as behavioral evidence, which shows that sharks and ray are fishes …

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Why Is Fish “Feeling” Pain Controversial?, E. Don Stevens Jan 2016

Why Is Fish “Feeling” Pain Controversial?, E. Don Stevens

Animal Sentience

In his excellent target article, Key (2016) develops a mechanistic argument in an attempt to show why it is unlikely that fish can “feel” pain or for that matter, “feel” anything. The topic is controversial and likely to achieve the goal of getting many hits for the inaugural issue of the new journal, Animal Sentience. In my view, the question is unlikely to be answered, for two reasons. First, because the proponents of the “fish feel pain” controversy are untrained and unskilled in the details and jargon of neurophysiology and/or neuroanatomy, and the opponents of the controversy, like Key, …

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Fish Pain: An Inconvenient Truth, Culum Brown Jan 2016

Fish Pain: An Inconvenient Truth, Culum Brown

Animal Sentience

Whether fish feel pain is a hot political topic. The consequences of our denial are huge given the billions of fish that are slaughtered annually for human consumption. The economic costs of changing our commercial fishery harvest practices are also likely to be great. Key outlines a structure-function analogy of pain in humans, tries to force that template on the rest of the vertebrate kingdom, and fails. His target article has so far elicited 34 commentaries from scientific experts from a broad range of disciplines; only three of these support his position. The broad consensus from the scientific community is …

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Pain And Other Feelings In Humans And Animals, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio Jan 2016

Pain And Other Feelings In Humans And Animals, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio

Animal Sentience

Evidence from neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropsychology suggests that the experience of feelings in humans does not depend exclusively on structures of the cerebral cortex. It does not seem warranted to deny the possibility of feeling in animals on the grounds that their cerebral cortices are not comparable to those of humans.

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Fish Pain: Would It Change Current Best Practice In The Real World?, B. K. Diggles Jan 2016

Fish Pain: Would It Change Current Best Practice In The Real World?, B. K. Diggles

Animal Sentience

Much of the “fish pain debate” relates to how high the bar for pain should be set. The close phylogenetic affinities of teleosts with cartilaginous fishes which appear to lack nociceptors suggests caution should be applied by those who seek to lower the bar, especially given the equivocal and conflicting nature of the experimental data currently available for teleosts. Nevertheless, even if we assume fish “feel pain,” it is difficult to see how current best practice in aquaculture would change. This is because of the need to avoid stress at all stages of the rearing process to optimize health, growth …

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Pain-Capable Neural Substrates May Be Widely Available In The Animal Kingdom, Edgar T. Walters Jan 2016

Pain-Capable Neural Substrates May Be Widely Available In The Animal Kingdom, Edgar T. Walters

Animal Sentience

Neural and behavioral evidence from diverse species indicates that some forms of pain may be generated by coordinated activity in networks far smaller than the cortical pain matrix in mammals. Studies on responses to injury in squid suggest that simplification of the circuitry necessary for conscious pain might be achieved by restricting awareness to very limited information about a noxious event, possibly only to the fact that injury has occurred, ignoring information that is much less important for survival, such as the location of the injury. Some of the neural properties proposed to be critical for conscious pain in mammals …

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Going Beyond Just-So Stories, Brian Key Jan 2016

Going Beyond Just-So Stories, Brian Key

Animal Sentience

Colloquial arguments for fish feeling pain are deeply rooted in anthropometric tendencies that confuse escape responses to noxious stimuli with evidence for consciousness. More developed arguments often rely on just-so stories of fish displaying complex behaviours as proof of consciousness. In response to commentaries on the idea that fish do not feel pain, I raise the need to go beyond just-so stories and to rigorously analyse the neural circuitry responsible for specific behaviours using new and emerging technologies in neuroscience. By deciphering the causal relationship between neural information processing and conscious behaviour, it should be possible to assess cogently the …

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Falsifying The Null Hypothesis That “Fish Do Not Feel Pain", Brian Key Jan 2016

Falsifying The Null Hypothesis That “Fish Do Not Feel Pain", Brian Key

Animal Sentience

The reader of Animal Sentience may surmise that because the weight of the commentaries on my target article, “Why fish do not feel pain,” is leaning towards not supporting my argument, it follows that the premise "fish do not feel pain" is incorrect. However, science does not prevail by popular opinion. History is plagued with numerous (and often widely accepted) examples of biological phenomena being explained by mysterious forces. In the absence of a mechanistic understanding, the many different guises of vitalism (the principle that life involves a vital energy) are often invoked to explain the unknown. Spurious …

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How Not To Move The Line Drawn On Pain, Bjorn H. Merker Jan 2016

How Not To Move The Line Drawn On Pain, Bjorn H. Merker

Animal Sentience

In this second commentary I outline the inadequacy of Key's responses to the many peer critiques of his thesis that have so far appeared in Animal Sentience. I illustrate with examples drawn from his response to my first commentary.

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Quantifying Bat Detection Survey Methods And Activity Patterns, Tara C. Hohoff Jan 2016

Quantifying Bat Detection Survey Methods And Activity Patterns, Tara C. Hohoff

Masters Theses

Bats have an astonishing diversity and provide vital ecosystem services in an array of different niches. In North America, most species of bats are insectivores and tend to be frequently overlooked for their important ecosystem role providing insect control. As bat populations have declined in recent years, farmers, land managers, conservationists, and bat enthusiasts have wondered what we can do to protect our local bat populations. As a first step, we need to develop methods that more effectively survey for rare species of bats. By performing inefficient surveys, we are doing a disservice to our funding agencies providing misinformation that …

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Why Animal Welfarism Continues To Fail, Lori Marino Jan 2016

Why Animal Welfarism Continues To Fail, Lori Marino

Animal Sentience

Welfarism prioritizes human interests over the needs of nonhuman animals. Despite decades of welfare efforts other animals are mostly worse off than ever before, being subjected to increasingly invasive and harmful treatments, especially in the factory farming and biomedical research areas. A legal rights-based approach is essential in order for other animals to be protected from the varying ethical whims of our species.

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Contributions On The Spider Families Nesticidae And Pholcidae (Araneae) From Argentina, Victor Manuel Torres, Paolo Luciano Pardo, Andrea Ximena Gonzalez-Reyes, Sandra Monica Rodriguez-Artigas, Jose Corronca Jan 2016

Contributions On The Spider Families Nesticidae And Pholcidae (Araneae) From Argentina, Victor Manuel Torres, Paolo Luciano Pardo, Andrea Ximena Gonzalez-Reyes, Sandra Monica Rodriguez-Artigas, Jose Corronca

Turkish Journal of Zoology

A new species of Nesticus Thorell, 1869, N. Salta sp. Nov., and a new species of Guaranita Huber, 2000, G. Dobby sp. Nov., are described from the Chaco Serrano ecoregion of Salta Province (Argentina). The female of G. Yaculica Huber, 2000 is described for the first time, and the known distribution of G. Munda (Gertsch, 1982) is enlarged to Jujuy Province, northern Argentina.

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Checklist Of The Dolichopodidae (Diptera, Brachycera) Of Turkey, Alper Tonguç, Igor Grichanov, Stefan Naglis Jan 2016

Checklist Of The Dolichopodidae (Diptera, Brachycera) Of Turkey, Alper Tonguç, Igor Grichanov, Stefan Naglis

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The first checklist of the Dolichopodidae of Turkey is presented. A total of 187 species and one subspecies belonging to 35 genera are listed. The type locality and the distribution in Turkey for each species are given.

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Parasites From The Red Lionfish, Pterois Volitans From The Gulf Of Mexico, Alexander Q. Fogg, Carlos F. Ruiz, Stephen S. Curran, Stephen A. Bullard Jan 2016

Parasites From The Red Lionfish, Pterois Volitans From The Gulf Of Mexico, Alexander Q. Fogg, Carlos F. Ruiz, Stephen S. Curran, Stephen A. Bullard

Gulf and Caribbean Research

No abstract provided.

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An Invertebrate Perspective On Pain, Jennifer A. Mather Jan 2016

An Invertebrate Perspective On Pain, Jennifer A. Mather

Animal Sentience

Although Key (2016) argues that mammals feel pain and fish do not, from an invertebrate perspective, it is obvious that the pain experience is shared by animals from a number of different animal groups.

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A Single Strand Of Argument With Unfounded Conclusion, Robert W. Elwood Jan 2016

A Single Strand Of Argument With Unfounded Conclusion, Robert W. Elwood

Animal Sentience

Key (2016) describes the neural system involved in human pain experience in an excellent fashion but then suggests that only that complete system can generate the experience of pain. Thus animals without all components will not feel pain. This argument has been refuted in the past by analogy to vision where it is clear that a broad range of taxa, vertebrate and invertebrate, have good visual abilities albeit with completely different central nervous systems and receptors. This known counterargument to Key’s main idea is not mentioned in the target article. Further criteria that might indicate pain and studies examining these …

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What Would The Babel Fish Say?, Monica Gagliano Jan 2016

What Would The Babel Fish Say?, Monica Gagliano

Animal Sentience

Starting with its title, Key’s (2016) target article advocates the view that fish do not feel pain. The author describes the neuroanatomical, physiological and behavioural conditions involved in the experience of pain in humans and rodents and confidently applies analogical arguments as though they were established facts in support of the negative conclusion about the inability of fish to feel pain. The logical reasoning, unfortunately, becomes somewhat incoherent, with the arbitrary application of the designated human criteria for an analogical argument to one animal species (e.g., rodents) but not another (fish). Research findings are reported selectively, and questionable interpretations are …

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Seasonal Habitat Selection Of The North American Porcupine (Erethizon Dorsatum) In A Coastal Dune Forest, Cara L. Appel Jan 2016

Seasonal Habitat Selection Of The North American Porcupine (Erethizon Dorsatum) In A Coastal Dune Forest, Cara L. Appel

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Wildlife-habitat relationship studies are important for understanding the factors that determine where species occur in space and time. Habitat selection by generalist species should be studied on fine spatial and temporal scales to avoid masking important differences between seasons, localities, or orders of selection. I conducted the first study of habitat use and general ecology of North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) in a coastal dune environment. Specifically, I assessed changes in body mass, home range size, and habitat selection in relation to the potential for seasonal nutritional and survival bottlenecks as reported elsewhere. Although they are considered generalists, …

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Contribution To The Knowledge Of The Chrysididae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata)In The South Of Iran, With Nine New Records, Afrouz Farhad, Ali Asghar Talebi, Paolo Rosa, Yaghoub Fathipour, Hamidreza Hajiqanbar Jan 2016

Contribution To The Knowledge Of The Chrysididae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata)In The South Of Iran, With Nine New Records, Afrouz Farhad, Ali Asghar Talebi, Paolo Rosa, Yaghoub Fathipour, Hamidreza Hajiqanbar

Turkish Journal of Zoology

In this study, fourteen species and subspecies in six genera of the family Chrysididae are listed from Hormozgan Province of Iran. Among them, Hedychridium femoratum (Dahlbom, 1854); Hedychridium virescens (du Buysson, 1908); Hedychridium verhoeffi Linsenmaier, 1959; Holopyga arabica Linsenmaier, 1994; Holopyga vicissituda Linsenmaier, 1994; Spintharina dubai Bohart, 1987; S. İntegerrima (Klug, 1845); Trichrysis scioensis (Gribodo, 1879); and T. Longispina (Mocsáry, 1912) are recorded for the first time from Iran. Geographical distributions of all the species and morphological diagnostic characteristics of the newly recorded species are briefly discussed. The number of chrysidid species in Iran is now raised from 194 to …

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