Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

Within-Pair Copulations: Are Female Tree Swallows Feathering Their Own Nests?, Michael P. Lombardo

Peer Reviewed Publications

A variety of hypotheses has been proposed to explain why socially monogamous birds copulate repeatedly with their mates when only a single copulation is necessary to fertilize an entire clutch (Birkhead and Møller 1992, Petrie 1992, Hunter et al. 1993). Petrie (1992) hypothesized that a female should copulate frequently with her mate so as to reduce her mate’s involvement in extrapair copulations. By reducing her mate’s involvement in extrapair copulations, a female may: (1) avoid the transmission of parasites and sexually transmitted diseases (Hamilton 1990); (2) may avoid sperm depletion by her mate; and (3) may monopolize her mate’s paternal …

Predator Deterrence In The Central Newt, Notophthalmus Viridescens Louisianensis (Wolterstorff) With Notes On Salamander Antipredator Strategies, Malcolm Mccallum

Masters Theses

The effectiveness of the skin secretions of Notophthalmus viridescens as a predator deterrent has been well documented. Still, there have been documented cases of predation on this salamander. This study investigates the ability of a variety of herptiles to feed on N. viridescens louisianensis.

In the first experiment, plethodonts and efts were fed on alternate weeks to snakes. Latency of response, anatomical location of predator attack, and behaviors displayed by predators and prey were recorded during each trial.

In the second experiment, tongue flick frequency by T. sirtalis to the essence of live N. viridescens louisianensis, Eurycea cirigerra …

Homosexual Copulations By Male Tree Swallows, Michael P. Lombardo, Ruth M. Bosman, Christine A. Faro, Stephen G. Houtteman, Timothy S. Kluisza

Peer Reviewed Publications

Homosexual courtship behavior in non-human animals is well known (Ford and Beach 1980) and occurs in a wide variety of taxa. However, homosexual copulations, especially between males, are less well known. In birds, males mounting other males have been observed in the colonially breeding Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) (Fujioka and Yamagishi 1981) and Common Murre (Uria aalge) (Birkhead et al. 1985, Hatchwell 1988). Neither Fujioka and Yamagishi (1981) nor Birkhead et al. (1985) and Hatchwell (1988) reported whether cloacal contact occurred during their observations of male-male mountings. Here we describe homosexual copulations by male Tree Swallows …

Eumeces Septentrionalis (Prairie Skink): Piscivory., Louis A. Somma

Papers in Herpetology

The prairie skink is a North American lizard characterized by a diet that is primarily insectivorous (Breckenridge 1943. Amer. MidI. Nat. 29:591-606). Fish have not been previously recorded as a food item (reviewed in Somma and Cochran 1989. Great Basin Nat. 49:525-534). On 3 June 1990 between 0930 and 1030 h, six Eumeces septentrionalis (three gravid females, one male, and two juveniles) were captured from amongst riprap and beneath stone slabs on the earthen dam forming the windward shoreline of Burchard lake, Pawnee Co., Nebraska (T.12N., R.10E., Sec. 4). The three females and one juvenile were placed in the …

Survey And Reconnaissance Of Sea Turtles In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Larry Ogren

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

This is a report on the results of an aerial survey of nesting beaches conducted during the period from May 16, 1977 to August 11, 1977. The area covered included the barrier beaches and offshore islands from the Florida-Alabama state line to the Rio Grande, Texas. Additional historical information is provided in order to compare current nesting activity with previous years as well as anecdotal observations on the occurrence of sea turtles in this region.

Elaphe Bairdi (Baird’S Rat Snake): Drinking Behavior., Louis A. Somma

Papers in Herpetology

On 13 February 1988. at 1600 h. a captive-bred (hatched July 1985) male Elaphe bairdi (TL.136.9 cm, SVL .. 89.54 cm). maintained in a 50.5 x 25 x 30 cm terrerium was accidently splashed with water. As beads of water on the snake's head rolled down to the upper labial sceles. swallowing was observed. The water on the labial scales was drawn Into the mouth while It was closed. This behavior lasted 42 sec. This behavior was repeated 23 out of 24 trials conducted during the next 24 days. The duration of swallowing wes 9-62 sec (avg 35.8, N = …

Foraging Behavior And Switching By The Grasshopper Sparrow Ammodramus Savannarum Searching For Multiple Prey In A Heterogeneous Environment, Anthony Joern

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Switching among four alternative grasshopper species by the grasshop- per sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) through frequency-dependent predation was ex- amined. Grasshoppers were presented against a heterogeneous natural background in an outdoor aviary where total density was held constant but relative density of each grasshopper species varied. Switching among prey, primarily between two of the four species, and inter-bird variability in switching was observed. Species-specific prefer- ences and interactions among the alternative grasshopper species affected the final diet choice as one grasshopper species was always preferentially selected and another disregarded independent of changes in relative density. Attributes of avian foraging behavior, including: …

Spatial Memory In Pigeons On A Four-Arm Radial Maze, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Pigeon spatial memory was examined using a four-arm radial maze. The maze had four arms, spaced at 90° intervals, extending radially from a central choice area. Subjects were forced into three arms, then permitted two choices to enter the remaining ann. Five subjects chose accurately (90% correct) with delays of 5 min or less, their choices depended on extramaze cues, and the food in the target arm provided no essential cues. After an incorrect first choice, subjects' second choices were more accurate than chance. These data suggest that, while spatial memory has many similar characteristics in rats and pigeons, pigeon …

Environmental Factors Affecting Nocturnal Migrations Of Macrobenthos, C. Timothy Morris

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Nocturnally dispersing macrobenthic invertebrates of the Lafayette River, Norfolk, Virginia were collected from September 4 to October 4, 1982 to determine environmental factors affecting migrations. A total of 55 taxa were identified from 325 surface and bottom nocturnal plankton tows. Peracaridan crustaceans were the dominant (99.0% of the total density) group collected. Six of the commonly collected species showed a significant (P

Variations In Radial Maze Performance Under Different Levels Of Food And Water Deprivation, Robert H.I. Dale, William A. Roberts

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Four groups of rats were tested on an eight-arm radial maze under a free-choice procedure. The subjects were maintained at either 80% or 100% of their preexperimental free-feeding weights through restricted access to either food or water. Water-deprived subjects received water in the maze; food-deprived subjects received food. Water-deprived subjects learned the task faster than food-deprived subjects. The four groups developed different response patterns. These were measured by the mean transition size, the average angular distance (in 45° units) between consecutively chosen arms. Rats foraging for food and water developed different search strategies, with water-deprived subjects exhibiting lower mean transition …

Interactions Between Response Stereotypy And Memory Strategies On The Eight-Arm Radial Maze, Robert H.I. Dale, Nancy K. Innis

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Three groups of water-deprived rats collected water from the ends of the 8 arms of an 8-arm radial maze. Sighted subjects, and subjects blinded either with or without pre-enucleation experience on the radial maze, all retrieved the water efficiently. Most of the subjects exhibited the same response stereotypy, regularly choosing 8 adjacent arms of the maze, then stopping in the center of the maze. The strategies underlying this performance were analyzed by interrupting trials and rotating the maze 180° after the subject had made 3 choices. Sighted subjects depended on extramaze stimuli, naive-blind subjects depended on intramaze stimuli and experienced-blind …

Spatial And Temporal Response Patterns On The Eight-Arm Radial Maze, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Six maze-experienced hooded rats were timed during five trials on which they collected water from all arms of an eight-arm radial maze, then made five more choices. All subjects frequently exhibited a “task-completion pause:” The subjects rarely spent more than 1 sec in the center of the maze between choices until they had entered all eight arms, then stopped in the center of the maze. In contrast, the time spent in each arm gradually increased until all of the water had been obtained, then decreased slightly. Four subjects began every trial by choosing eight consecutive adjacent arms. The task-completion pause …

The Hold-Release Mechanism In The Family Crotalidae, Ronald K. Easter

Masters Theses

Strike/release vs. strike/hold feeding behavior was observed for 5 Crotalus atrox and 5 Agkistrodon piscivorous. Two sizes of warm blooded prey were offered to the rattlesnakes on alternate weeks. Cottonmouths were offered, alternately, fish or mice of equal size. Although data varied among individual subjects, cottonmouths offered fish demonstrated the strike/hold behavior significantly more often than the strike/release behavior; cottonmouths offered mice struck and released significantly more often than they struck and held. It is concluded that the strike/hold strategy in sreponse to fish is adventageous because the danger of holding such prey is minimal and the release of …

The Hippocampus As Episodic Encoder: Does It Play Tag?, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Rawlins’s characterization of the hippocampus as a “high-capacity, immediate-term memory store” captures the essential idea in a number of previous models. For example, Gaffan (1974), Gray (1984), Hirsh (1980), Kesner (Bierley, Kesner & Novak 1983), Olton (Olton, Becker & Handelmann 1979), Solomon (1980), and Winocur (1980) all agree that hippocampal animals show memory deficits when required to identify, for whatever reason, one specific event out of a list of recent events. Although these authors disagree on a number of details, Rawlins has identified their models common ground, the core of each model. (It is only fair to note that Gaffan …

Activity Levels Of Arboreal Rodents Peromysus And Ochrotomys Evaluated With Nest Cans In Seasonally Flooded Forests, John W. Walke

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The diversity and density of small mammals in the Dismal Swamp are believed to be small. To test this, four 1.96 ha grids were established and operated in the Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, from September 1981 to November 1982. Number 10 metal cans covered with plastic lids were placed as nest boxes at 0.5 to 1.5 m height on trees. A 2.5 cm hole allowed access by arboreal rodents, to each nest can. The activity level of the two arboreal rodents, Peromyscus leucopus and Ochrotomys nuttalli, was evaluated by observing types of activity ranging from presence of mice to …

Life History Aspects Of Reithrodontomys Humulis In Southeastern Virginia, Michelle Cawthorn Chandler

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Reithrodontomys humulis, the eastern harvest mouse, is a small cricetid rodent which is common in old field communities in the eastern U.S. A live-trapping study was conducted in Suffolk, Virginia from March 1983 through February 1984 in order to learn the details of its life history and the vegetational characteristics which best describe its microhabitat. Specifically, population densities, trap-revealed survival times, home ranges, plant species composition of the study area, and vegetational structure were examined. In order to trap as many Reithrodontomys as possible, special traps which excluded animals weighing over 20 g were constructed. Densities of harvest mice …

Limitations On Spatial Memory In Mice, Robert H.I. Dale, Martin Bedard

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Rats have an impressive ability to remember locations they have visited. Two experiments used an eight-arm radial maze to determine whether mice showed two important characteristics of this spatial memory: its durability, and its dependence on stimuli outside the maze (extreme stimuli). In Experiment 1, food-deprived mice were allowed to eat from four of the eight arms of the maze then, after delays of 5 sec, 1 min, or 5 min, they were permitted to choose the remaining arms. Choice accuracy declined significantly with the longer delays, but always remained above chance. In Experiment 2, the maze was rotated 180° …

Avoidance Learning And Memory In Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides) Fed Bufo Tadpoles, Randy John Gawlik

Masters Theses

Tadpoles of the American toad (Bufo americanus) have been shown to be distasteful to largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) predators who learn, on the short term, to avoid them. How long bass retain this learned avoidance of Bufo larvae is unknown so an experimental design was constructed in an attempt to answer this question.

Largemouth bass were divided into four treatment groups. Two groups were initially fed exclusively larvae of Bufo americanus (one group was fed large tadpoles, the other group fed small larvae). Similarily, the other two groups were initially fed spring peeper (Hyla crucifer …

Operant Conditioning In The Water Snake (Nerodia Sipedon), Angela R. Deitz

Masters Theses

Six subjects of Nerodia sipedon were tested for runway acquisition. Five of six subjects met criterion for runway learning, demonstrating a significant decrease over the 25 day testing period in mean latency and running times. Four subjects completed 170 trials in a T-maze to test two-choice discrimination and reversal learning. All subjects met criterion for the initial discrimination and one reversal while two subjects completed four reversals and one subject met criterion for six reversals. Results are similar or superior to those previously reported for reptiles and other non-human vertebrates.

Homing And Ecology In The Southern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys Volans In Southeastern Virginia, Sherrie Lynn Sawyer

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether homing occurred in the southern flying squirrel, Glauaomys volans, and if so, the greatest homing distance. Information on the squirrel's ecology, reproductive biology and use of artificial nest boxes was also obtained. The study was conducted from November 1978 through March 1981, using nest boxes placed in a deciduous forest in southeastern Virginia.

For the homing experiments, twenty squirrels were released a total of 29 times along three lines at distances of 250 m to 1.6 km from the homesites. Squirrels were found to home successfully up to 1,000 m.

The …

Dynamic Effects Of Food Magnitude On Interim-Terminal Interaction, Alliston K. Reid, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We tested the assumption of a facilitatory relation between periodic food presentation and schedule-induced drinking by examination of (a) elicited drinking, (b) drinking in anticipation of food delivery, and (c) possible indirect effects of food delivery on drinking. We exposed rats to a fixed-time 60-second schedule in which interfood intervals ended in either one or four food pellets with equal probability. In Phases 1 and 3, a stimulus signaled the magnitude of upcoming food presentation. In Phase 2, the stimulus was eliminated. Changes in drinking and "head-in-feeder" distributions within interfood intervals demonstrated that head-in-feeder was controlled directly by food presentation, …

Parallel-Arm Maze Performance Of Sighted And Blind Rats: Spatial Memory And Maze Structure, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Sighted and peripherally blinded groups of rats learned to obtain a small reward from each arm of an eight-arm parallel maze, and a sighted group was similarly trained on a radial maze. The parallel-sighted and parallel-blind groups were equally slow, and much slower than the radial-sighted group, to attain criterion performance. The three groups shared several response characteristics: selectively avoiding the most recently entered arms, frequently choosing adjacent arms, and an absence of 'spatial generalization' among the arms. The findings support a simple model proposing how subjects identify and choose among the maze-arms.

Radial-Maze Performance In The Rat Following Lesions Of Posterior Neocortex, Melvyn A. Goodale, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The present experiment was designed to investigate the role of posterior neocortex (areas 17, 18 and 18a) in the maintenance of performance on the radial maze. Following training to criterion on the 8-arm radial maze, rats received either sham operations, bilateral eye enucleations, lesions of posterior neocortex, or combined enucleations and lesions of posterior neocortex. While the enucleated animals with intact brains showed a slight, but significant performance decrement relative to the sham-operated group, the other two groups, with lesions of areas 17, 18 and 18a, each showed a massive deficit. This large deficit was observed even in the group …

Remembrance Of Places Lasts: Proactive Inhibition And Patterns Of Choice In Rat Spatial Memory, William A. Roberts, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A series of experiments was carried out to evaluate the notion that rats given a sequence of massed daily trials on the radial maze reset working memory at the end of each trial by deleting its contents. Although curves presented by D. S. Olton [Scientific American, 1977, 236, 82-98: In S. H. Hulse, H. Fowler, & W. K. Honig (Eds.), Cognitive processes in animal behavior, 1978, Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum] show that rats return to errorless performance at the beginning of each trial after the first, the fact that accuracy falls less rapidly over choices on Trial 1 …

Concurrent Drinking By Pigeons On Fixed-Interval Reinforcement Schedules, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Three experienced pigeons were exposed to at least ten consecutive 100-min sessions on each of three food-reinforced fixed-interval (FI) schedules: FI 50-sec, FI 100-sec and FI 200-sec. Water was freely available. Drinking was largely confined to the first third of each fixed interval, and the mean sessional water intake was directly related to the food-reinforcement rate for each animal. The animals drank very quickly, i.e., 3-4 ml/sec, but the drinking bouts were brief, i.e., 0.8-1.4 sec, and infrequent, i.e., 2-5/hr. The parameters describing concurrent drinking in the pigeon are strikingly different from those describing rats’ drinking under similar reinforcement schedules, …

Swimming As A Determinate To Immigration For Two Small Mammals In Coastal Virginia, Jeffrey Lewis Carter

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Small mammals were live trapped on the mainland and on an island located in the southeast corner of Virginia. The area was characterized by a mid-Atlantic coastal climate. White-footed mice (Perompsous fsucopus) were trapped on the mainland but not on the island, whereas meadow voles (Microtus psnnsylvimious) inhabited only the island. A series of swimming tests were performed in both the field and in the laboratory on both of these species to determine if swimming abilities could be the factor preventing Pszomysous from colonizing the island.

Both species of small mammals showed good swimming endurance in …

Seasonal Feeding Habits Of The River Otter (Lutra Canadensis) In Ditches Of The Great Dismal Swamp, Ronnie M. Pierce

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

To determine the seasonal feeding habits of the river otter (Lutra canadensis) in the Great Dismal Swamp 209 scats were collected, from May 1977 to May 1978, and analyzed for content. Remains of crayfish were found with a frequency of occurrence of 82% while fish remains occurred in 62% of the scat. This is in direct contrast to previous studies (from other areas) which found fish with a greater frequency than crayfish. Fish consumption was believed to increase during periods of low water or low temperatures. Sunfish were represented most frequently and may be the preferred fish. Amphiuma remains …

The Fall And Winter Food Habits Of The Black Bear (Ursus Americanus) In The Great Dismal Swamp Of Virginia, Francis Leonard Daniel

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

A study was conducted on the food habits of the black bear (Ursus americanus) in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia. A total of four stomachs and 42 scats were analyzed. Four samples were collected from September and October of 1975, and the remainder of the samples were collected from September 1976 to February 1977. The study was conducted to obtain information vital to the management of this species in the Great Dismal Swamp. Vitis spp. was the primary food item during the fall comprising 43% of the total diet, followed by fruits of Diospyros virginiana and Asimina triloba, each …

A Mid-Continent Irruption Of Canada Lynx, 1962-63, Harvey L. Gunderson

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

There was a mid-continent irruption of the Canada lynx (Felis lynx) population and subsequent extensive movement into non-lynx habitats during the years 1962-1963. Lynx were found in the prairie provinces of Canada and the prairie areas of Minnesota, and North and South Dakota. They were also found in urban areas such as Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota: Winnipeg, Manitoba: and Calgary, Saskatchewan, Canada. Causes for the irruption remain unknown but speculations include primarily a change in snowshoe hare population, disease, extensive forest fires and extensive spraying. Unusual behavior seemed to be most often reflected by a lack of …

Comparison Of Coyote And Coyote × Dog Hybrid Food Habits In Southeastern Nebraska, Brian R. Mahan

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

The recent taxonomic study by Mahan et al. (1978) documented the occurrence of coyote (Canis latrans) x dog (c. familiaris) hybrids in Nebraska. This study, and those by Freeman (1976) in Oklahoma and Gipson et al. (1974) in Arkansas show coyote x dog hybrids, though not abundant, to be numerous in some areas. The purpose of the present study was to compare the stomach contents of coyote x dog hybrids collected by Mahan et al. (1978) from southeastern Nebraska with those of contemporary coyotes.

Stomachs of 12 coyote x dog hybrids and 16 coyotes collected November 1975 …