Biology Commons^™

Great Curassow And Crested Guan Near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, Timothy Brush

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Great Curassow (Crax rubra) and Crested Guan (Penelope purpurascens) were rediscovered in the Ciudad Victoria area of southwestern Tamaulipas, Mexico for the first time since 1909. Birds were found in low elevation canyons containing permanent running water, with riparian forest dominated by Montezuma bald-cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) and steep scrub-covered slopes. These records represent the northernmost known points of the ranges of both species. Additional field work will be needed to determine whether these small populations are isolated from the nearest known populations in the El Cielo/Gómez Farías area of southern Tamaulipas.

The Effect Of Zinc On L-Leucine Transport In Lobster Intestine, Anna Lynn Mullins

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study is a characterization of L-leucine absorption across the American lobster intestine in order to determine the likelihood of a bis-complex formation with zinc ([Leu]-Zn-[Leu]) as a possible substrate for PEPT1. This study required isolated lobster intestines to be mounted in a perfusion chamber in order to quantify 3H-L-leucine transport. It was hypothesized that an apical dipeptide transporter, PEPT1, was responsible for uptake of L-leucine via formation of a bis-complex with zinc ([Leu]-Zn-[Leu]) in the form of molecular mimicry, where the bis-complex mimics the normal dipeptide substrate of the proposed carrier system. It was found that L-leucine transport …

Effects Of Olfactory And Visual Predators On Nest Success And Nest-Site Selection Of Waterfowl In North Dakota, Jennifer Borgo

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

No abstract provided.

Yellow Head Virus: Transmission And Genome Analyses, Hongwei Ma

Dissertations

Yellow head virus (YHV) is an important pathogen to shrimp aquaculture. Among 13 species of naturally YHV-negative crustaceans in the Mississippi coastal area, the daggerblade grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, and the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, were tested for potential reservoir and carrier hosts of YHV using PCR and real time PCR. The YHV replicated in the daggerblade grass shrimp, and was still detectable on 36 d post-inoculation, causing 8% mortality after injection. However, YHV did not replicate in the blue crab. These data suggest that the daggerblade grass shrimp could act as a reservoir host for YHV. Storage conditions of …

Garter Snake (Thamnophis) Natural History: Food Habits And Interspecific Aggression, Michael J. Edgehouse

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Communication and recognition are closely intertwined and have been well documented in closely related species over the past several decades. These two types of behaviors often will aid in fostering or disrupting coexistence of similar species. Frequently, it is through different diet patterns that similar species will be able to coexist. This study uses data from 1972 through 2006 to demonstrate the diet of Thamnophis sirtalis, T. atratus, T. elegans, and T. couchii throughout their California range of sympatry with Taricha torosa. Additionally, an in depth examination of the diet of T. sirtalis, T. elegans, …

Preliminary Analysis Of The Ecology And Geography Of The Asian Nuthatches (Aves: Sittidae), Shaily Menon, Zafar-Ul Islam, Jorge Soberon, A. Townsend Peterson

Peer Reviewed Publications

We explored distributions of Asian nuthatch species in ecological and geographic space using ecological niche modeling based on occurrence data associated with specimens and observations. Nuthatches represent a well-defined clade occurring throughout the Northern Hemisphere, but are most diverse in southern Asia where 15 of the 24 species occur and where the lineage is believed to have evolved. Species richness was focused in a narrow east-west band corresponding to the forested parts of the Himalayas with a maximum number of nine species predicted present in these foci. The distributional predictions have a mid-elevation focus with highest species diversity between 1,000 …

Monogenic Control Of Sex-Limited Colouration In The Honey Gourami, Trichogaster Chuna, Jack Frankel

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

Of the numerous subtropical and tropical freshwater speciesof  fish,  labyrinth  fish  are  among  the  most  varied  in  bodymarkings and colouration patterns. Four taxonomic families(Belontiidae, Anabantidae, Helostomatidae, and Osphrone-midae)  of  the  suborder  Anabantoidei  comprise  the  ‘tradi-tional’  labyrinth  fishes,  a  group  of  about  80  African  andSoutheast Asian species (Linke 1991).  These Anabantoidsare popular with aquarists due to their interesting reproduc-tive behaviours, with males of most species brooding eggs intheir mouths or in floating bubble nests (Vevers 1980; Linke1991; Axelrod and Vorderwinkler 1995; Mills 2000).  Theyhave also been the focus of genetic, environmental, and mor-phological studies (Sommer 1982; Gosline 1985; Klinkhardtet  al.  1995; …

A Conceptual Framework For Understanding Effects Of Wildlife Water Developments In The Western United States, Randy T. Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Free water can be a limiting factor to wildlife in arid regions of the world. In the western United States, management agencies have installed numerous, expensive wildlife water developments (e.g. catchments, guzzlers, wells) to: 1) increase the distribution or density of target species, 2) influence animal movements, and 3) mitigate for the loss of available free water. Despite over 50 years as an active management practice, water developments have become controversial for several species. We lack an integrated understanding of the ways free water influences animal populations. In particular, we have not meshed understanding of evolutionary adaptations that reduce the …

Disturbance As Restoration In The Intermountain Sagebrush Steppe: Effects On Non Target Bird Species, Russell Edward Norvell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Changes in shrubsteppe passerine bird habitat associations in response to disturbance were investigated at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Spatial measures incorporated the effects of area at different ecological scales (nest site, territory, and landscape) to include ecologically meaningful extents. Temporal measures included seasonal and annual effects, and were designed to detect lagged responses should they occur. Local-to-landscape scale effects of mechanical restoration treatments on local extirpation and abundances of nine species indicated most were insensitive to changes in habitat quality, while abundance models showed only broad declines. Changing the availability of nesting habitat on both the attractiveness and quality …

Fisheries Occasional Publication No.72 - Western Rock Lobster Ecological Effects Of Fishing Research Plan., Rhys Brown

Fisheries Occasional Publications

The commercial West Coast Rock Lobster Fishery (WCRLF) targets the western rock lobster (WRL), Panulirus cygnus, averaging approximately 10,000 tonnes of lobsters each year. Currently approximately 450 to 500 boats operate in the Fishery in waters ranging from 5 m to 200 m depth adjacent to the Western Australian coast and stretching from Cape Leeuwin in the south to Shark Bay in the north. The Fishery is managed by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) in Western Australia, using an input control system designed to constrain exploitation/fishing effort and deliver sustainable catches. The annual value of the catch is estimated at …

Review Of The "Online Dictionary Of Invertebrate Zoology" From Parasites And Vectors, Les Chappell

Armand R. Maggenti Online Dictionary of Invertebrate Zoology

This is a very useful dictionary, one which I wish I had had access to when, as an undergraduate student of zoology, I was required to consult Hyman’s intensely erudite prose and needed serious assistance in the explication of countless seemingly obscure terms. ... I therefore recommend that all invertebrate zoologists, old or young, mark the URL for this dictionary in their favourites section and use it whenever an unfamiliar (or even supposedly familiar) term is encountered or used.

The Stallion's Mane: The Next Generation Of Horses In Mongolia, Amanda Hund

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Horses play a central role in Mongolian history and culture, yet there has been little academic research on breeding methods, either traditional or modern in Mongolia. The goal of good horse breeding is to maintain and improve the quality of the breed. By looking at the traditional breeding, we gain a better understanding of what Mongolian culture values in their horses and what they are hoping to pass on to the next generation. We can also learn how this information is passed on in an oral tradition from generation to generation of horse trainers and herders. In traditional Mongolian horse …

Glandular Secretions Of Male Pteropus (Flying Foxes): Preliminary Chemical Comparisons Among Species, Jamie Wagner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Chemosignaling – passing information by means of chemical compounds that can be detected by members of the same species – is a very important form of communication for most mammals. Flying fox males have odiferous marking secretions on their neck-ruffs that include a combination of secretion from the neck gland and from the urogenital tract; males use this substance to establish territory, especially during the mating season. The secretions of flying fox males from three Australian species – spectacled (Pteropus conspicillatus), grey-headed (P. poliocephalus), and black (P. alecto) – were compared using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC); two spectacled females …

Corallivorous Reef Fishes As Potential Vectors Of Coral Disease Based On A Study Of Dietary Preferences, Tanya Rogers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The prevalence of coral disease appears to be increasing worldwide, although little is known about how these diseases are transmitted between coral colonies. To examine whether corallivorous fishes could potentially act as disease vectors, this study examined whether and which fish species feed on diseased coral, and whether these fishes actively target diseased coral sections. Branches of Acropora muricata with brown band disease were filmed in the field, and bites taken by fishes on different sections of the coral (live tissue, tissue margin, disease band, dead skeleton, and algae) were recorded. For each fish species, electivity indices were calculated for …

Sex- And Gonad-Affecting Scent Compounds And 3 Male Pheromones In The Rat, Jian-Xu Zhang, Lixing Sun, Jin-Hua Zhang, Zhi-Yong Feng

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This study was aimed at identifying sex pheromones of the rat (Rattus norvegicus). We characterized the volatiles and semivolatiles of rat preputial gland and voided urine by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and quantified them by their GC areas (abundances) and percentage of GC areas (relative abundances). Although all the compounds other than 4-heptanone and phenol detected were shared by males and females, the quantities for some of these sex-common compounds exhibited sexual dimorphism and decreased with gonadectomy. Thus, these compounds might be sex pheromones. Among them, squalene from preputial glands and 2-heptanone and 4-ethyl phenol from urine …

A Strategy For Managing The Recreational Catch Of Demersal Scalefish In The West Coast Bioregion. Decisions By The Minister For Fisheries, Jon Ford (Minister For Fisheries; The Kimberley, Pilbara And Gascoyne)

Fisheries Management Papers

The following recreational fisheries management package is a result of an extensive public consultation process. The package has been carefully developed to deliver the required reduction in catches. It is important to understand that each management measure contributes to the reduction in catches necessary to give these stocks a chance to rebuild and that no measure on its own will deliver the required reduction in catch.

To ensure the ongoing recovery of stocks, an adaptive approach to management has been adopted. This approach will involve an ongoing review of the effectiveness of these management arrangements, and take into account the …

Movement And Habitat Use Of Two Aquatic Turtles (Graptemys Geographic And Trachemys Scripta) In An Urban Landscape, Travis J. Ryan, C A. Conner, B A. Douthitt, S C. Sterrett, Carmen M. Salsbury

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Our study focuses on the spatial ecology and seasonal habitat use of two aquatic turtles in order to understand the manner in which upland habitat use by humans shapes the aquatic activity, movement, and habitat selection of these species in an urban setting. We used radiotelemetry to follow 15 female Graptemys geographica (common map turtle) and each of ten male and female Trachemys scripta (red-eared slider) living in a man-made canal within a highly urbanized region of Indianapolis, IN, USA. During the active season (between May and September) of 2002, we located 33 of the 35 individuals a total of …

A Systematic And Taxonomic Review Of The Family Pseudotanaidae (Crustacea: Peracarida: Tanaidacea) Based Primarily On Morphometry Cladistic Analyses, Jerry Alan Mclelland

Dissertations

Species of the tanaid family Pseudotanaidae, established by Jurgen Sieg in 1973, have been reported from all the world's oceans in depths ranging from near the surface to below 6,000 m. The family currently consists of 46 characteristically small tanaidomorph species residing in two subfamilies, the Cryptocopinae (seven species) and the Pseudotanainae (39 species). Members of the more ancestral Crytocopinae differ from the Pseudotanainae by having females with four rather than three antennule articles and a complete separation of the maxilliped endites. The primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the current structure of the family …

Roosting Ecology Of Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat, Corynorhinus Rafinesquii, In Southeastern Mississippi, Austin Webb Trousdale Iii

Dissertations

Rafinesque's big-eared bat, Corynorhinus rafinesquii, is considered rare and/or declining throughout its range. Concrete bridges are potentially important roosts for C. rafinesquii, especially in the Gulf Coastal Plain where the species' natural roosts (caves and large hollow trees) are inherently scarce. Successful efforts to monitor and conserve this species must account for its movements among multiple roosts and determine the duration of its roost use (including bridges) at different temporal scales. Therefore, I investigated roosting ecology of C. rafinesquii from 2000-2005 within a mixed hardwood-pine (Pinus spp.) system in southeastern Mississippi. I conducted surveys of concrete bridges to determine phenological …

Reproductive Biology Of The Coyote (Canis Latrans): Integration Of Behavior And Physiology, Debra Anne Carlson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wild Canis species possess a unique suite of reproductive traits including social monogamy, copulatory lock/tie, and biparental care. Females are seasonally monestrous and experience an obligatory pseudopregnancy after spontaneous ovulation. While these characteristics have been ascribed to coyotes, an integrated profile of behavior and physiology has not yet been described. In this study, temporal correlations between steroid hormone levels and socio-sexual mating behaviors were documented, as were changes in vaginal epithelium. Pseudopregnancy was compared to pregnancy by contrasting hormone (progesterone, estradiol, prolactin and relaxin) profiles of unmated females to patterns obtained in alternate years when they bred. Meanwhile, social interactions …

The Mayfly Newsletter, Peter M. Grant

The Mayfly Newsletter

The Mayfly Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Permanent Committee of the International Conferences on Ephemeroptera.

A New Reproductive Mode In The Genus Melanzophryniscus Gallardo, 1961 (Anura: Bufonidae) With Description Of A New Species From The State Of Paraná, Brazil, José A. Langone, Magno V. Segallo, Marcos Bornschein, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

A new species of bufonid toad of the genus Melanophryniscus is described from a mountaintop that is part of the Serra do Mar in the northeastern State of Paraná, Brazil. Melanophryniscus alipioi sp. nov. is distinguished from other known species by its uniformly dark brown dorsal color and a unique breeding site. The new species reproduces in bromeliads, a reproductive mode previously unknown for this genus. This species might be susceptible to current habitat lost.

A Songbird Forebrain Area Potentially Involved In Auditory Discrimination And Memory Formation, Raphael Pinaud, Thomas A. Terleph

Biology Faculty Publications

Songbirds rely on auditory processing of natural communication signals for a number of social behaviors, including mate selection, individual recognition and the rare behavior of vocal learning - the ability to learn vocalizations through imitation of an adult model, rather than by instinct. Like mammals, songbirds possess a set of interconnected ascending and descending auditory brain pathways that process acoustic information and that are presumably involved in the perceptual processing of vocal communication signals. Most auditory areas studied to date are located in the caudomedial forebrain of the songbird and include the thalamo-recipient field L (subfields L1, L2 and L3), …

A Synaptic Basis For Auditory-Vocal Integration In The Songbird, Eric E. Bauer, Melissa J. Coleman, Todd F. Roberts, Arani Roy, Jonathan F. Prather, Richard Mooney

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Songbirds learn to sing by memorizing a tutor song that they then vocally mimic using auditory feedback. This developmental sequence suggests that brain areas that encode auditory memories communicate with brain areas for learned vocal control. In the songbird, the secondary auditory telencephalic region caudal mesopallium (CM) contains neurons that encode aspects of auditory experience. We investigated whether CM is an important source of auditory input to two sensorimotor structures implicated in singing, the telencephalic song nucleus interface (NIf) and HVC. We used reversible inactivation methods to show that activity in CM is necessary for much of the auditory-evoked activity …

Ontogenetic Changes In Feeding Morphology And Diet In The Chiselmouth Minnow, Acrocheilus Alutaceus, Corrie Murray

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The chiselmouth minnow (Acrocheilus alutaceus) is an herbivorous fish endemic to freshwater systems of the Pacific Northwest and abundant in mid-reaches of the Yakima River, WA. Uncommon in temperate streams, herbivorous fish are ecologically important because they provide a direct link between primary production and fish biomass. Chiselmouth minnows undergo ontogenetic morphological changes as they transform from insectivore to herbivore, the lower jaw becomes flattened, calcified and hardened for scraping algae and the intestine grows long for digestion. The timing of these changes in relation to diet and ecological status are poorly understood. By quantifying changes in jaw …

Optimal Data Partitioning And A Test Case For Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) Based On Ten Nuclear Loci, Chenhong Li, Guoqing Lu, Guillermo Orti

Biology Faculty Publications

Data partitioning, the combined phylogenetic analysis of homogeneous blocks of data, is a common strategy used to accommodate heterogeneities in complex multilocus data sets. Variation in evolutionary rates and substitution patterns among sites are typically addressed by partitioning data by gene, codon position, or both. Excessive partitioning of the data, however, could lead to overparameterization; therefore, it seems critical to define the minimum numbers of partitions necessary to improve the overall fit of the model. We propose a new method, based on cluster analysis, to find an optimal partitioning strategy for multilocus protein-coding data sets. A heuristic exploration of alternative …

Population Ecology Of The Golden Mouse, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

An understanding of the population dynamics of a species requires knowledge of the major life-history parameters of a population, including age at maturity, distribution of age classes, and lifetime reproductive contribution of the sexes, sex ratio, length of the breeding season, mean litter size, rates of growth and survival, and life span. Because few long-term studies have been conducted with Ochrotomys nuttalli as the focal species of investigation, only fragmentary information is available for many population parameters. As importantly, densities of golden mice often are low, making them difficult to evaluate statistically. Little has been published on age at maturity …

Out Of South America: Multiple Origins Of Non-Native Apple Snails In Asia, Kenneth Hayes

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

Apple snails (Ampullariidae: Pomacea) native to the New World have become agricultural and environmental pests widely in southern and eastern Asia since their introduction in about 1980. Although their impacts have been extensively documented, considerable confusion persists regarding their identities and geographical origins. Efforts to resolve the confusion have suffered from inadequate taxonomic and geographical sampling from both native and introduced ranges. Using phylogenetic and genealogical methods, we analysed 610–655 bp of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I DNA sequences from 783 apple snails from 164 Asian locations and 57 native South American locations. In Asia, we found four species of …

Oviposition Behavior Partitions Aquatic Landscapes Along Predation And Nutrient Gradients, C. A. Binckley, W. J. Resetarits Jr.

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

That individuals attempt to minimize the ratio of mortality risk/growth rate (μ/g) when foraging within individual habitat patches is well established. Do species partition among spatially discrete communities embedded in complex landscapes in a similar manner? We investigated how 3 ovipositing species (2 Hyla treefrogs and a hydrophilid beetle, Tropisternus lateralis) responded to simultaneous gradients of nutrients and predation risk. Species partitioned our experimental metacommunity primarily by reducing oviposition with fish. Tropisternus positively responded to increased nutrients, but the effect decreased with increasing risk, as predicted by μ/g theory. Use of fish habitats by Tropisternus was unrelated to breeding …

Accelerated Exchange Of Exon Segments In Viperid Three-Finger Toxin Genes (Sistrurus Catenatus Edwardsii; Desert Massasauga), Robin Doley, Susanta Pahari, Stephen P. Mackessy, Manjunatha Kini

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Snake venoms consist primarily of proteins and peptides showing a myriad of potent biological activities which have been shaped by both adaptive and neutral selective forces. Venom proteins are encoded by multigene families that have evolved through a process of gene duplication followed by accelerated evolution in the protein coding region. RESULTS: Here we report five gene structures of three-finger toxins from a viperid snake, Sistrurus catenatus edwardsii. These toxin genes are structured similarly to elapid and hydrophiid three-finger toxin genes, with two introns and three exons. Both introns and exons show distinct patterns of segmentation, and the insertion/deletion …