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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Other Life Sciences
An Effective Method For Long-Term Control Of American Bullfrogs Syntopic With Special-Status Native Amphibians In California, Usa, Jeff A. Alvarez, Jeffery T. Wilcox
An Effective Method For Long-Term Control Of American Bullfrogs Syntopic With Special-Status Native Amphibians In California, Usa, Jeff A. Alvarez, Jeffery T. Wilcox
Human–Wildlife Interactions
American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) are invasive in western North America and are well established in California, USA, where they are widespread. This invasive species has been implicated in the decrease of native amphibian populations and is believed to have contributed to the decline of threatened and endangered amphibians regionally. We utilized air rifles, tin alloy pellets, and 2 shooters to systematically control L. catesbeianus in both lentic and lotic habitat types within 2 counties in California. We visited sites monthly (April through November) for approximately 8 and 14 years to lethally target and remove L. catesbeianus …
Substrate-Borne Vibrational Communication In Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo Calyptratus) During Courtship, Breeding, And Territoriality, Lauren Kappel
Substrate-Borne Vibrational Communication In Veiled Chameleons (Chamaeleo Calyptratus) During Courtship, Breeding, And Territoriality, Lauren Kappel
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Substrate-borne vibrations, or biotremors, are utilized by vertebrates found in unique environments because biotremors are an effective way to transmit signals through dense media. Previous studies have shown that veiled chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) are able to produce biotremors via specialized neck muscles. I hypothesized that during courtship and/or breeding, the veiled chameleon, a tree-dwelling species, would communicate with biotremors through branches. Additionally, I hypothesized that female call characteristics would differ between reproductive condition (i.e., receptive and non-receptive), while male call characteristics would differ between behavioral contexts (i.e., territorial vs. courtship). Chameleons were paired (one male, one female) and placed on …
Individual Behavior Drives Ecosystem Function And The Impacts Of Harvest, Jacob E. Allgeier, Timothy J. Cline, Timothy E. Walsworth, Gus Wathen, Craig A. Layman, Daniel E. Schindler
Individual Behavior Drives Ecosystem Function And The Impacts Of Harvest, Jacob E. Allgeier, Timothy J. Cline, Timothy E. Walsworth, Gus Wathen, Craig A. Layman, Daniel E. Schindler
Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications
Current approaches for biodiversity conservation and management focus on sustaining high levels of diversity among species to maintain ecosystem function. We show that the diversity among individuals within a single population drives function at the ecosystem scale. Specifically, nutrient supply from individual fish differs from the population average >80% of the time, and accounting for this individual variation nearly doubles estimates of nutrients supplied to the ecosystem. We test how management (i.e., selective harvest regimes) can alter ecosystem function and find that strategies targeting more active individuals reduce nutrient supply to the ecosystem up to 69%, a greater effect than …
The Intrepid Urban Coyote: A Comparison Of Bold And Exploratory Behavior In Coyotes From Urban And Rural Environments, Stewart W. Breck, Sharon A. Poessel, Peter J. Mahoney, Julie K. Young
The Intrepid Urban Coyote: A Comparison Of Bold And Exploratory Behavior In Coyotes From Urban And Rural Environments, Stewart W. Breck, Sharon A. Poessel, Peter J. Mahoney, Julie K. Young
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are highly adaptable, medium-sized carnivores that now inhabit nearly every large city in the United States and Canada. To help understand how coyotes have adapted to living in urban environments, we compared two ecologically and evolutionarily important behavioral traits (i.e., bold-shy and exploration-avoidance behavior) in two contrasting environments (i.e., rural and urban). Boldness is an individual’s reaction to a risky situation and exploration is an individual’s willingness to explore novel situations. Our results from both tests indicate that urban coyotes are bolder and more exploratory than rural coyotes and that within both populations there are …
Ocean Acidification And Predator-Prey Relations: Correlating Disruption Of Predator Avoidance With Chemosensory Deficits, Alexandra Fw Sidun, William G. Wright
Ocean Acidification And Predator-Prey Relations: Correlating Disruption Of Predator Avoidance With Chemosensory Deficits, Alexandra Fw Sidun, William G. Wright
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
One of the most destructive effects of global climate change is the increased carbon sequestering and consequential acidification of our world’s oceans. The impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms are still relatively unknown, especially effects on behavioral ecology. Avoiding predation has emerged from recent behavioral ecology literature as a critical feature in the life history of a wide array of animal species; experiments on marine fishes suggest acidic water compromises their predator-avoidance abilities. Recent assays in our lab suggest predator-induced behavior is reduced by weakly acidic water. These experiments do not address the potential factor of generalized malaise caused …
Livestock Foraging Behavior In Response To Sequence And Interactions Among Alkaloids, Tannins, And Saponins, Tiffanny L. Jensen
Livestock Foraging Behavior In Response To Sequence And Interactions Among Alkaloids, Tannins, And Saponins, Tiffanny L. Jensen
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
During the past several decades, people worldwide have expressed a growing interest in reconstructing ecosystems to enhance ecological, economic, and social values. Yet, to do so we must find ways to enhance biodiversity, environmental quality and the sustainability of grazing lands. In all these instances, plants are the glue that binds soils, water, herbivores, and people. However, monocultures or simple grass-legume mixtures are not always ideal for intensively managed pastures due to their seasonality, susceptibility to pests, and monotony of plant nutrients and toxins. All plants contain so-called “toxins,” more appropriately referred to as secondary compounds, which are crucial in …
Time Series Observations Of Species Composition And Behavioral Interactions Of Fish At An Ocean Observatory Off The Coast Of Georgia, Amy E. Paquette
Time Series Observations Of Species Composition And Behavioral Interactions Of Fish At An Ocean Observatory Off The Coast Of Georgia, Amy E. Paquette
Honors Scholar Theses
The use of ocean observatories is expanding with the potential for collecting serial data with high temporal resolution at multiple sites within an ecosystem. Integration of underwater video cameras in observatory systems allow observation of vagile species and are useful tools for observing variations in behavior over time. In order to assess the utility of using video records for time series behavioral data I analyzed video records from an observatory site in the South Atlantic Bight (SAB) off the Coast of Georgia collected during the month of November in 2000, 2002 and 2004. Data were used to quantify annual variation …
What Makes An Animal Choose A Forage, Elizabeth A. Burritt, Frederick D. Provenza
What Makes An Animal Choose A Forage, Elizabeth A. Burritt, Frederick D. Provenza
Wildland Resources Faculty Publications
Consider the following scenarios: To cut the costs of ranching a researcher explores feeding cattle ammoniated straw in winter. Some of the cows maintain themselves on the diet while others lose weight, produce less milk and fail to conceive. A producer in Missouri plants a pasture rich in legumes and high in crude protein, yet his cattle prefer moldy hay and endophyte infected tall fescue to the legumes. Why do animals behave this way? Animals are thought to prefer foods that are palatable but what is palatability? We define palatability as the interrelationship between a food's flavor and postingestive feedback …