Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

Flexibility In The Foraging Strategies Of Spiders, Ximena J. Nelson, Robert R. Jackson

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Although many spiders build prey-capture webs, spider foraging strategies include species that, instead of building webs, deploy silk in other ways for prey capture. Additionally, there are species that capture prey, either by ambush or by active pursuit, without making notable use of silk in the process. There are striking examples of predatory specialisation from spiders, particularly among the Salticidae, suggesting that assumptions about adaptive trade-offs, in which the small nervous systems of spiders might constrain their cognitive or sensory abilities, need to be carefully evaluated. Predatory versatility, whereby an individual spider adopts a conditional strategy with which it classifies …

Interpopulation Variation In Kairomone Use By Cyrba Algerina, An Araneophagic Jumping Spider From Portugal, Ana M. Cerveira, Robert R. Jackson

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Geographic variation in a predator's reliance on kairomones from prey was investigated. The predator studied, Cyrbaalgerina, is an araneophagic (spider-eating) jumping spider (Salticidae) and the prey were oecobiid spiders (Oecobiidae). There were two study sites (Sintra and Tavira), both in Portugal. Oecobiusmachadoi was a common oecobiid in Sintra, but no oecobiids were found in Tavira. Staged encounters showed that oecobiid-specific prey-capture behaviour was adopted by the C. algerina in Sintra but not in Tavira. In experiments using a Y-shaped olfactometer, significantly more Sintra C. algerina individuals chose the side with oecobiid odour instead of the blank side when the odour …

Molecular Evidence Suggests Multiple Evolutionary Origins Of Sociality In The Polyphenic Spider Anelosimus Studiosus (Araneae: Theridiidae)., Nathaniel O. Weber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anelosimus studiosus exhibits two behavioral phenotypes: subsocial and social. This is the only documented spider inhabiting a temperate climate exhibiting social behavior. While the subsocial phenotype is most common throughout the range, the social behavior occurs in isolated pockets in northern latitudes. This study examines the origins of the social phenotype within a segment of the spider's range. Two hypotheses are tested: 1) pockets of social behavior represent a single origin or 2) pockets of social behavior represent local evolutions, thus leading to multiple origins of evolution. Microsatellite loci were used to determine genetic structure of the population and to …

Lack Of Rhythmicity In The Honey Bee Queen: An Investigation Of Temporal Behavioral Patterns In Apis Mellifera Ligustica., Jennifer N. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the behavioral patterns of honey bee queens. To determine if mated honey bee queens possess diel rhythmicity in behavior, we observed them in glass-sided observation hives using three types of observation regimes: focal studies consisting of 2-hour and 24-hour continuous observations as well as scan-sampling of multiple queens. All behaviors (active: walking, inspecting, egg-laying, begging for food, feeding, and grooming self; inactive: standing) occurred at all times of day and night, but no queen showed consistent diel rhythmicity in any of the individual behaviors. There were no consistent diel differences in active versus inactive behaviors or …

Distributions Of Sharks Across A Continental Shelf In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, J. Marcus Drymon, Sean P. Powers, John Dindo, Brian Dzwonkowski, Terry A. Henwood

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Declines in shark populations have sparked researchers and fishery managers to investigate more prudent approaches to the conservation of these fish. As managers strive to improve data collection for stock assessment, fisheries-independent surveys have expanded to include data-deficient areas such as coastal regions. To that end, a catch series from a nearshore survey off Alabama was combined with data from a concurrent offshore survey with identical methodology to examine the depth use of sharks across the continental shelf (2–366 m). The combined data set contained 22 species of sharks collected from 1995 to 2008: 21 species in the offshore data …

Coaching Efficacy With Academic Leaders: A Phenomenological Investigation, Deanna Lee Vansickel-Peterson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this psychological phenomenological research was to understand the efficacy of life coaching from the perspective of academic leaders. To date, not one investigation or attempt has been made towards the above stated purpose. This study includes a theoretical overview and a review of the coaching literature from Socrates (469-399 BC) to current day Humanistic theory presented in part by Roger (1902-1987). This process included data collection from five academic leaders who have been coached for at least two years. Levels of analysis of 365 statements, quote and/or comments produced finding of efficacy in life coaching with academic …

On The Evidence For Species Coexistence: A Critique Of The Coexistence Program, Adam M. Siepielski, Mark A. Mcpeek

Dartmouth Scholarship

A major challenge in ecology is to understand how the millions of species on Earth are organized into biological communities. Mechanisms promoting coexistence are one such class of organizing processes, which allow multiple species to persist in the same trophic level of a given web of species interactions. If some mechanism promotes the coexistence of two or more species, each species must be able to increase when it is rare and the others are at their typical abundances; this invasibility criterion is fundamental evidence for species coexistence regardless of the mechanism. In an attempt to evaluate the level of empirical …

Ecological Effects Of Virus-Resistant Transgenic Squash, Holly R. Prendeville

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Two ecological risks associated with the use of transgenic crops include the effects of transgene products on non-target organisms and the effects of a transgene after it moves from crops into a wild plant population. In work presented here, we specifically investigate the ecological risks of virus-resistant transgenic squash. We observed pollinator behavior to determine if pollinators are affected by nontarget effects of the virus-resistant transgene. We found that pollinator behavior did differ between conventional and virus-resistant transgenic squash due to pleiotropic effects of the transgene. This difference in pollinator behavior can affect plant mating patterns, thereby affecting crop-wild hybridization …

Are Unfamiliar Neighbours Considered To Be Dear-Enemies?, Elodie Briefer, Fanny Rybak, Thierry Aubin

Sentience Collection

Background: Discriminating threatening individuals from non-threatening ones allow territory owners to modulate their territorial responses according to the threat posed by each intruder. This ability reduces costs associated with territorial defence. Reduced aggression towards familiar adjacent neighbours, termed the dear-enemy effect, has been shown in numerous species. An important question that has never been investigated is whether territory owners perceive distant neighbours established in the same group as strangers because of their unfamiliarity, or as dear-enemies because of their group membership.

Methodology/Principal Findings: To investigate this question, we played back to male skylarks (Alauda arvensis) songs of adjacent neighbours, distant …

Scraping Behavior In Male White-Tailed Deer As A Potential Means Of Transmitting Chronic Wasting Disease, Travis C. Kinsell

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has become a concern for wildlife managers and hunters across the United States. High prevalence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in older male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) suggests that sex-specific social behavior may contribute to the spread of the disease among males. Scraping is a marking behavior performed by male white-tailed deer during the rut in which a pawed depression and associated over-hanging branch are marked with saliva, glandular secretions, urine, and feces. We placed 71 and 35 motion-activated cameras on scrapes in DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in western Nebraska and eastern Iowa from …

The Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Fauna Of The Blackwater Ecological Preserve: Effects Of Prescribed Burns And Habitat Type On Mosquito Abundance And Distribution, Norman A. Grefe Lll

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

While mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are among the most studied of insect groups, much remains unknown about their distribution and response to environmental impacts such as prescribed burns. Blackwater Ecological Preserve, located near Zuni, Virginia, is a relict long leaf pine barren, parts of which undergo periodic prescribed burns to maintain and restore this fire-dependent ecosystem. To assess the impact of prescribed burns on mosquito activity and to determine associations between seasonal patterns of adult mosquito activity and habitat type, CDC light traps baited with dry ice were set (rom late April through October at Blackwater Ecological Preserve during the 2005 …

Carrion Beetles Of The Blackwater Ecologic Preserve: Community Structure Seasonal Patterns And Habitat Use, Amy L. Simons

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Carrion beetles (Silphidae) are important in the decomposition of carcasses in ecosystems. Two subfamilies, Nicrophorinae and Silphinae, differ in reproductive behaviors. The Nicrophinae, burying beetles, bury small carcasses to serve as food for the adults and their offspring. The Silphinae oviposit near larger carcasses. There is intense competition among all carrion beetles and other carrion feeders for carcasses, and beetle species have evolved seasonal activity patterns that minimize competition, such as when they are active and when they reproduce. Northern Silphidae communities are more diverse than southern communities, probably due to increased competition for carrion in the south.

This research …

The Significance Of The Male Display During Male-Male Interactions In Guppies (Poecilia Reticulata), Rebecca Nuffer, Samantha M. Alburn

Biological Sciences

Guppies, Poecilia reticulata, are a model species for studies of female preference based on male courtship displays; however, males also display to each other in an aggressive context, and little attention has been paid to the role of male-male displays. The display involves a male positioning his body in front or to the side of another male, arching his body, and quivering with his dorsal fin splayed. To understand what behaviors elicit a male display, we assigned individual males a dominance status. We then examined the relationship between dominance status and the number of displays delivered and received. By …

A Comparison Of The Singing Activity Of Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus Ludovicianus)) In Urban And Rural Settings, Shannon R. Trimboli

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

As the earth’s landscape becomes increasingly urbanized, local wildlife must adapt to urban conditions or migrate to areas that are more rural. Urban wildlife face challenges such as direct loss of habitat, competition with non-native species, disturbance due to anthropogenic noise, and micro-climatic changes. Factors such as temperature, relative humidity, and noise affect the acoustical environment and may affect the ability of many animals, including birds, to communicate.

Understanding how urbanization affects birds’ singing behavior is critical because singing often plays a vital role in attracting mates and defending territories. In addition, as global climate change occurs it will become …

Maternal Effects In Transmission Of Self-Medicative Behavior From Mother To Offspring In Sheep, Udita Sanga

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mammals begin learning food preferences in utero and maternally mediated influences early in life help offspring develop their feeding habits. Mammals also learn by individual experience to ingest medicinal compounds such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), which attenuates the negative post-ingestive effects of tannins, a group of potentially toxic plant secondary compounds. The objective of this study was to investigate the transmission of acquired self-medicative behavior from mother to offspring using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a medicine to relieve malaise caused by tannins. I hypothesized that: 1) mothers trained to associate the beneficial effects of PEG while consuming tannins will pass …

Habitat Preference Of Nitrophila Species, Kari Hugie

Undergraduate Research Conference

Nitrophila occidentalis and Nirophlia mohavensis are both members of the same Family and Genus, and they both are found in the Great Basin region. They are the only members of the Genus Nitrophila native to the United States. Nitrophila occidentalisflourishes in the Great Basin, but Nitrophila mohavensis is endangered and limited to a few populations. Habitat analysis was done to the two species using GIS (Geographical Information Systems) to gain some new insight on how to preserve this endangered species. A discrete difference in soil alkalinity preference was found, which may help in saving N. mohavensis.

The Effects Of Food Quality On Preference And Incurred Risk In White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus), Travis Perlman, Jacob Stanton

Undergraduate Research Conference

An observational study was concluded in Nacogdoches County, Texas, to determine if free-range white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) could assess forage value. Multiple parameters were recorded to determine if individuals were willing to incur hight levels of risk as they sought to maximize their fitness, through dietary selection. Our results indicated that individuals were willing to incur higher levels of risk, in order to attain higher quality food items.

Female Mate Choice Based Upon Male Motor Performance, John Byers, Eileen Hebets, Jeffrey Podos

Eileen Hebets Publications

Our goal in this essay is to review the hypothesis that females choose mates by the evaluation of male motor performance. We define motor performance as vigor, the ability to perform energetically expensive acts repeatedly, or as skill, the ability to perform difficult motor tasks well. Motor performance reflects most aspects of whole-organism performance that relate to survival, and thus should indicate, more reliably than ornaments do, individual male genetic quality and/or developmental history. Male sexual displays in many animal taxa contain elements of vigor and/or skill, and accumulating evidence suggests that females choose mates in nature based upon their …

Space Use And Mating Activities In The Speckled Rattlesnake, Xavier Glaudas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Our understanding of space use variation in response to the temporally varying importance of specific resources is poorly understood in reptiles, because spatial studies are rarely placed into an explicit ecological and behavioral context. I examined how space use differed between the mating and post-mating seasons, and how this variation related to three important resources, mating partners, food, and refuge, in an adult population of the speckled rattlesnake Crotalus mitchellii in the Mojave Desert of southwestern North America. During the mating season (late April to early June), Crotalus mitchellii increased distance traveled per unit time, because wide-ranging behavior likely enhances …

Effect Of Sand Grain Size On Burrowing Behavior Of Juvenile Pacific Sand Crabs (Emerita Analoga), Natalie A. Lee, Laura M. Melroy

Biological Sciences

Emerita analoga, Pacific coast sand crabs, are an important biological component of the swash zone ecosystem. They have evolved the ability to burrow into sand, and burrowing speed is commonly used as an indicator of performance relevant for fitness in this species. Sand grain size varies among beaches, and crabs may be better adapted to to burrow in some sand types. We performed a completely crossed 3-factor experiment to determine how the sand grain size associated with beach-of-origin and rearing conditions influence burrowing in coarse and fine sand. Crabs from a fine sand beach and a coarse sand beach were …