Organisms Commons^™

Benthic Beasts: The Ecological Significance Of Lake Sturgeon And Blue Catfish In Eastern Appalachian Waterways, Stewart Thacker

Research Day

East Tennessee freshwater ecosystems comprise an abundance of an extremely diverse selection of species. This presentation examines Acipenser fulvescens and Ictalurus furcatus, two of the largest freshwater fish in the Appalachian area, which play significant ecological roles within the benthic dimension of our freshwater environments. Commonly known as “bottom-feeders,” Benthivorous species enjoy a broad range of food sources including other fish, detritus, crustaceans, and more. The extensive variety of food consumed by A. fulvescens and I. furcatus permits population control of other, denser, aquatic populations inhabiting other regions of the water column, as well as other organisms included …

Characterizing The Cutaneous Microbiome Of Eurycea Lucifuga As A Potential Defense Against Chytridiomycosis, Madeline Key

Senior Honors Theses

Chytridiomycosis is an emerging infectious disease that is significantly reducing global amphibian populations. The disease is caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungus that lethally modifies amphibian skin. Recent research has suggested that the cutaneous microbiome of individual amphibians may play a role in susceptibility to the pathogen. In this study, twelve cave salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga) were collected. Cutaneous bacteria from each salamander were isolated and identified using Sanger Sequencing. Additionally, a Bd-challenge assay was performed to determine each isolate’s antifungal activity. Results indicated many microbial isolates possessed inhibitory capabilities against Bd, which may …

Immune-Endocrine Links To Gregariousness In Wild House Mice, Patricia C. Lopes, Esther H. D. Carlitz, Morgan Kindel, Barbara König

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Social interactions are critically important for survival and impact overall-health, but also impose costs on animals, such as exposure to contagious agents. The immune system can play a critical role in modulating social behavior when animals are sick, as has been demonstrated within the context of “sickness behaviors.” Can immune molecules affect or be affected by social interactions even when animals are not sick, therefore serving a role in mediating pathogen exposure? We tested whether markers of immune function in both the blood and the brain are associated with gregariousness, quantified as number of animals interacted with per day. To …

Malanda Gold: The Tale Of A Unique Rainbowfish From The Atherton Table-Lands, Now On The Verge Of Extinction., Peter J. Unmack, Keith Martin, Michael P. Hammer, Brendan Ebner, Karl Moy, Culum Brown

Ichthyology Collection

No abstract provided.

Report Of A Meeting On Contemporary Topics In Zebrafish Husbandry And Care, Nikki Osborne, Gregory Paull, Adam Grierson, Karen Dunford, Elisabeth M. Busch-Nentwich, Lynne U. Sneddon, Natalie Wren, Joe Higgins, Penny Hawkins

Ichthyology Collection

A meeting on Contemporary Topics in Zebrafish Husbandry and Care was held in the United Kingdom in 2014, with the aim of providing a discussion forum for researchers, animal technologists, and veterinarians from academia and industry to share good practice and exchange ideas. Presentation topics included protocols for optimal larval rearing, implementing the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) in large-scale colony management, and environmental enrichment. The audience also participated in a survey of current practice relating to practical husbandry, cryopreservation, and the provision of enrichment.

Thinking Pigs: Cognition, Emotion, And Personality, Lori Marino, Christina M. Colvin

Mammalogy Collection

An exploration of the cognitive complexity of Sus domesticus, the domestic pig.

Connecting Model Species To Nature: Predator-Induced Long-Term Sensitization In Aplysia Californica, Maria J. Mason, Amanda J. Watkins, Jordann Wakabayashi, Jennifer Buechler, Christine Pepino, Michelle Brown, William G. Wright

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Previous research on sensitization in Aplysia was based entirely on unnatural noxious stimuli, usually electric shock, until our laboratory found that a natural noxious stimulus, a single sublethal lobster attack, causes short-term sensitization. We here extend that finding by demonstrating that multiple lobster attacks induce long-term sensitization (>= 24 h) as well as similar, although not identical, neuronal correlates as observed after electric shock. Together these findings establish long-and short-term sensitization caused by sublethal predator attack as a natural equivalent to sensitization caused by artificial stimuli.

African Elephants Change Gaits When Walking Downhill, Robert H.I. Dale, Robert Warren, Brock Ward, Eric Noble

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Abstract from the International Elephant and Rhino Conservation and Research Symposium, Rotterdam, NL, October 10-14, 2011.

A Survey Of The Management And Development Of Captive African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) Calves: Birth To Three Months Of Age, Nicole L. Kowalski, Robert H.I. Dale, Christa L. H. Mazur

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We used four surveys to collect information about the birth, physical growth, and behavioral development of 12 African elephant calves born in captivity. The management of the birth process and neonatal care involved a variety of standard procedures. All of the calves were born at night, between 7PM and 7AM. The calves showed a systematic progression in behavioral and physical development, attaining developmental milestones at least a quickly as calves in situ. This study emphasized birth-related events, changes in the ways that calves used their trunks, first instances of behaviors, and interactions of the calves with other, usually adult, elephants. …

Initial Findings On Visual Acuity Thresholds In An African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana), Melissa R. Shyan-Norwalt, Jeff Peterson, Barbara Milankow King, Timothy E. Staggs, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

There are only a few published examinations of elephant visual acuity. All involved Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and found visual acuity to be between 8′ and 11′ of arc for a stimulus near the tip of the trunk, equivalent to a 0.50 cm gap, at a distance of about 2 m from the eyes. We predicted that African elephants (Loxodonta africana) would have similarly high visual acuity, necessary to facilitate eye-trunk coordination for feeding, drinking and social interactions. When tested on a discrimination task using Landolt-C stimuli, one African elephant cow demonstrated a visual acuity of …

About Fish, Humane Society Institute For Science And Policy

Aquaculture Collection

Although a number of fish species have been studied in their freshwater life stages, further research on the behavior and habitat requirements of ocean-going fish is required. While fishes have historically been regarded as more “primitive” than other vertebrate groups, Rodriguez et al concluded that several memory and learning systems of bony fishes are noticeably similar to those of reptiles, birds, and mammals. When animals as small and under appreciated as fish display complex mating systems, parental care, and demonstrate the ability to traverse significant distances using olfactory and celestial cues, it is clear that previously established definitions of intelligence …

Female Humpback Whale (Megaptera Novaeangliae) Reproductive Class And Male-Female Interactions During The Breeding Season, Meagan E. Jones

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study examined whether female reproductive class (i.e., presence or absence of a calf) in humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) affects female behavior and male-female interactions on the Hawaiian breeding grounds. From 2003-2008, 295 female-calf groups (with or without a male escort) and 256 female no-calf groups (with a male) were observed. Forty-one female no-calf groups were confirmed male-female pairs by genetic sexing or photo-identification. Focal follows of 36 male-female pairs and 50 female-calf groups (29 escorted and 21 unescorted female-calf groups) were analyzed for time budget and movement estimates. Relative fluke size (fluke photogrammetry, n=30) and sighting histories …

Dr. Maximillian Schmidt's 1884 Review Of The Growth Rates Of Asian Elephants, Robert H.I. Dale, Fred Yaniga

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Rarely is there a scientific article of such creativity, insight and importance that it is fascinating even 125 years after it was written. The following article by Max Schmidt, translated in English for the first time, as far as we know, is one of these. As in the original article, an illustration precedes the text.

Dr. Schmidt addressed a topic of considerable interest in recent times (for example, Sukumar, 2003, Appendix 2): The growth curves of elephants. He combined data on multiple elephants from several sources to generate a table of shoulder heights from birth to the age of 34 …

Calf Development: Most Births At Night, Robert H.I. Dale

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

For many years, field researchers studying both African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximas) elephants have indicated that they have observed relatively few births in situ, suggesting that most elephant dams give birth at night. For example, according to Cynthia Moss, "Possibly the majority of births occur at night and perhaps those that do take place in the daytime happen in secluded places" (1988, p. 151). Others, for example, Clive Spinage, have referred to "the old beliefs that the cows retreated to 'calving grounds' or that birth took place at night." (Spinage, 1994, p. 90). Although …

The Locomotor Kinematics Of Asian And African Elephants: Changes With Speed And Size, John R. Hutchinson, Delf Schwerda, Daniel J. Famini, Robert H.I. Dale, Martin S. Fischer, Rodger Kram

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

For centuries, elephant locomotion has been a contentious and confusing challenge for locomotion scientists to understand, not only because of technical difficulties but also because elephant locomotion is in some ways atypical of more familiar quadrupedal gaits. We analyzed the locomotor kinematics of over 2400 strides from 14 African and 48 Asian elephant individuals (body mass 116-4632 kg) freely moving over ground at a 17-fold range of speeds, from slow walking at 0.40 m s^-1 to the fastest reliably recorded speed for elephants, 6.8 m s^-1. These data reveal that African and Asian elephants have some subtle …

The Amino Acid Sequence Of The Adult Sumatran Tiger (Panthera Tigris, Carnivora) Hemoglobins, Meeno Jahan, Aftab Ahmed, Gerhard Braunitzer, Reinhard Göltenboth

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The complete amino-acid sequences of the hemoglobins from the adult Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) have been determined on automatic liquid- and gas-phase sequenators. The globin chains were isolated by reverse phase HPLC on a column of Nucleosil-C4.7V-Acetylserine was detected by FAB-mass spectroscopy as TV-terminal amino acid residue of the βI chain. Comparing the sequences of the globin chains of the tiger with that of human Hb-A, 23 substitutions were recognized in the a, 29 in βI and 28 in the βII chain.

The Primary Structure Of Hemoglobins Of The Adult Jaguar (Panthera Onco, Carnivora), Aftab Ahmed, Meeno Jahan, Zafar H. Zaidi, Gerhard Braunitzer, Reinhard Göltenboth

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The primary structure of the hemoglobins from Jaguar (Panthera onco) are presented. Electrophoretic separations without and with a dissociating agent revealed the presence of two hemoglobin components, OL2ß\ and a2 02. The separation of the hemoglobin components was achieved by ion-exchange chromatography. The globin chains were separated by ion-exchange chromatography and also by reversed phase HPLC. The amino-acid sequences of the native chains and peptides were determined by liquid-phase and gas-phase sequencing. N-Acetylserine was detected by FAB-mass spectroscopy as N-terminal group of the ßl chain. The sequences are compared with that of human hemoglobin (Hb A).

The Behaviour Of Swine, J. P. Signoret, B. A. Baldwin, D. Fraser, E. S. E. Hafez

Mammalogy Collection

The pig was a forest-dwelling animal from the beginning of its history. In some parts of the world it has been domesticated for at least 7000 years. The European breeds of domestic swine were derived from the local wild pig, Sus scrofa. Herds ranged in pastures and forests and kept indoors only for fattening. The breeds in the Far East were derived from another wild pig, Sus vittatus, a smaller animal with shorter legs and a higher reproductive ability (Mohr 1960; Zeuner 1963). The two types interbred readily. The modem breeds of pig evolved from different crossings between the two …