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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology
Checking For Ticks: Analyzing The Efficiency Of Different Tick Collection Methods, Peter Briggs, Lawson Trimmell, Javier Monzón
Checking For Ticks: Analyzing The Efficiency Of Different Tick Collection Methods, Peter Briggs, Lawson Trimmell, Javier Monzón
Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium
Ticks are the most important arthropod disease vectors in both North America and Europe. Field collection of wild ticks is vital for research on the ecology of vector-borne diseases. Dragging and trapping are the two most common methods for collecting wild ticks. Dragging involves a researcher pulling a canvas through a field to collect ticks searching for a host, while trapping exploits ticks’ natural attraction to carbon dioxide to lure them onto a canvas where they get caught on tape. Our study aimed to evaluate which of these two methods is more effective. We chose six sites across three states, …
Investigating The Biological Function Of Female-Specific Fruitless Transcripts, Liam Mcfarlane
Investigating The Biological Function Of Female-Specific Fruitless Transcripts, Liam Mcfarlane
Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference
In Drosophila, the fruitless (fru) gene encodes an array of alternatively spliced transcription factors, some of which are sex-specifically spliced. The male-specific transcript (fruM) has been previously determined to be involved in male courtship behaviours. The female counterpart (fruF) however, has been assumed to have no function due to the incorporation of a stop codon near the 5' end of the transcript. Interestingly, RNAseq data shows that expression levels of fruF in females exceeds that of fruM in males in the brain and thoracoabdominal ganglion, bringing to …
Age Status Effects On Female Silk Production And Male Courtship Response In Dolomedes Scriptus, Joseph Osborne
Age Status Effects On Female Silk Production And Male Courtship Response In Dolomedes Scriptus, Joseph Osborne
Student Scholar Showcase
Female Dolomedes scriptus, the striped fishing spider, serve as model organisms exhibiting pheromone production as a means of chemical signaling. Previous work has shown that male fishing spiders are responsive to female silk, and preferentially court in the presence of silk from mature virgins. In our research, we hypothesized that mature females produced larger quantities of silk than penultimate females in an attempt to elicit greater male mating response. Female spiders of both age statuses were kept for two days in a gridded tank. Sub-sampling of silk lines that crossed a random portion of the grid produced results signifying …
The Effect Of Physical Stress Signals On Conspecific Interactions In Green-And-Black Poison Frogs (Dendrobates Auratus), Gabriella E. Chan, Maxwell A. Kenyon, Summer Ngo, Lee B. Kats
The Effect Of Physical Stress Signals On Conspecific Interactions In Green-And-Black Poison Frogs (Dendrobates Auratus), Gabriella E. Chan, Maxwell A. Kenyon, Summer Ngo, Lee B. Kats
Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium
Amphibian declines have been a major focus of the scientific community for nearly three decades. Many studies describe the leading causes of amphibian decline related to disease, with chytridiomycosis as the most notable example. However, little is known about behavioral conspecific interactions among ill or stressed amphibians, particularly neotropical species. Previous observational research on poison frogs determined that stressed Dendrobates auratus flip onto their backs in a reaction that is similar to fainting in other species. In this study, we examine conspecific interactions of green-and-black poison frogs (D. auratus) with “healthy” and “sick” model frogs, in order to …
Swimming Mechanisms Of Temperate Forest Ants, Noah D. Gripshover, Evan M. Gora, Stephen P. Yanoviak
Swimming Mechanisms Of Temperate Forest Ants, Noah D. Gripshover, Evan M. Gora, Stephen P. Yanoviak
Posters-at-the-Capitol
Swimming Mechanisms of Temperate Forest Ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus and Formica subsericea)
Noah D. Gripshover, Evan M. Gora, and Stephen P. Yanoviak
University of Louisville
Abstract
Environmental challenges shape the evolution of animal behavior and morphology. For wingless terrestrial invertebrates like ants, pools of water on the forest floor are particularly dangerous. Here we show that ants can overcome this obstacle using a modified gait to transverse the water surface. We compared the locomotor morphology and swimming performance of two arboreal ant species that are common in Kentucky (Camponotus pennsylvanicus and Formica subsericea). We defined performance as speed …
How Do Prey Refuges Affect Predator-Prey Interactions?, Justin Vendettuoli
How Do Prey Refuges Affect Predator-Prey Interactions?, Justin Vendettuoli
Senior Honors Projects
While it is well known that predators eat their prey, prey that avoid predation risk can also incur substantial fitness costs through risk-induced changes in survival and reproduction, growth, and morphology. Changes in prey that occur without the predator physically consuming the prey are referred to as ‘non-consumptive effects’. One way to reduce the risk of predation is to use a refuge. While refuge use may reduce predation risk, however, it may also be costly to the prey. These costs may include within-refuge competition for resources, which can alter prey population dynamics, coexistence, and metapopulation dynamics. While these costs may …