The changes in plant quality and availability in space and time present a substantial problem to mammalian herbivores. As a result, these herbivores need to alter their foraging behaviour to maximize their energy gain at both small (plant level) and large (landscape level) scales. A megaherbivore, the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), has been shown to be selective in its foraging choices at both of these scales. Furthermore, the ratio of palatability:defences (e.g. fibre and total polyphenols) has been highlighted as an important determinant of habitat selection in elephants. The elephants in Ithala Game Reserve (IGR) frequently leave IGR during the wet season and forage outside the reserve. However, they predominantly feed on the low-nutrient granite soils of the reserve and return to a high-nutrient area with dolerite soils during the dry season. In an attempt to understand these seasonal movements, I focused on how the small-scale foraging decisions of the elephants lead to large-scale seasonal movements in IGR, KwaZulu-Natal. Plant availability was determined seasonally for seven target species across four areas in the reserve. Crude protein, fibre, energy and total polyphenols as well as the ratios of palatability:digestion-reducing substances were analysed in the wet and dry seasons. All factors and their interactions were significant in a MANOVA. Consequently, I employed a dimension-reducing Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to better understand the factors of greatest importance. The PCA highlighted four of the six most important factors to be the ratios of palatability:digestion-reducing substances. The other two important variables were total polyphenols (negative effect) and crude protein (positive effect). At small spatial scales, I found that the elephants were selective in their decisions, especially during the dry season. For example, the increased inclusion of the principal tree species Acacia nilotica from 2.9% in the wet season to 39.3% during the dry season appears to be a result of a decline in total polyphenols and fibre during the dry season. At large spatial scales, the elephants moved back into IGR from the low-nutrient granite soils in the east in response to an increase in forage quality in the west as the quality declined in the east at the same time. However, it is unclear as to why the elephants are leaving the reserve during the wet season. Some possible explanations for this are discussed.Key-words: acid detergent fibre, crude protein, Loxodonta africana, neutral detergent fibre, total polyphenols, plant part quality. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

Migration timing is a conserved life-history trait. To address the hypothesis that reproductive hormones are principal determinants of migration timing, I physiologically biopsied over 1000 sockeye salmon and monitored their subsequent behaviour with acoustic and radio telemetry as they migrated from the Pacific Ocean toward and into the Fraser River, and then onward to distant spawning areas. Links between physiology, behaviour, and survival were examined. Circulating testosterone was found to be positively correlated with the rates of river entry in Late-run females but not in males, despite having concentrations that were equal if not higher than those of females. The notion of protandrous migration, in which males synchronize their activities to the reproductive and migratory schedules of females, was postulated as the basis for this difference. Once in river however, successful males and females were those that (1) took longest to enter the river, and (2) had high somatic energy, low testosterone, and low gill Na+,K+-ATPase activities. An experimental test of the effect of reproductive hormones on the regulation of migration timing proved inconclusive. Relative to controls, GnRH and (or) testosterone treatment did not influence rates of ocean travel by males. Unfortunately, no females were examined. Nevertheless, significant, positive correlations between initial testosterone and travel times were found irrespective of hormonal treatment, which was unexpected but consistent with the previous studies. In an experimental simulation of an ‘early’ migration, normally timed Late-run sockeye exposed to typical 10 ºC river temperatures and then released to complete migration were 68% successful. In contrast, salmon held at 18 °C and released were half as successful. The expression of a kidney parasite was near maximal in the 18 °C fish and undetectable in the 10 °C fish. Only gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity differed between groups, with a drop in the 18 °C fish. Though no clear stress, reproductive, or energetic differences were observed between groups, the ultimate effect of high temperature treatment was high disease expression, slowed migration speeds, and high migration mortality. Changes in reproductive schedules, due to changes in latitudinal ocean distributions, are discussed as potential causes of early migration by Late-run sockeye.

ABSTRACT Many unusual phenomena in nature were recorded from the regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea from the second millennium BC up to AD 600. The ancient sources interpreted these as prodigies, messages from the gods, but rarely discussed their causes. Numerous reports of these portents were viewed as the illusions of eyewitnesses or the fabrications of ancient literary sources. Many modern authors have interpreted these portents as fabulous, or as astronomical or meteorological events. This thesis examines the portents that occur in the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere and proposes that many are geophysical phenomena caused by tectonic activity, in particular earthquakes and volcanoes. Modern research on these incidents is examined to identify characteristics and causes, and texts from ancient philosophers and natural historians are investigated to see whether they were aware of these natural occurrences and if so, how they were produced. Portents that possess the characteristics of seismically-induced lights, cloud, fog, storms, anomalous animal behaviour, noises, and hydrological changes are collated in order to discuss individual events. Where possible, ancient examples are compared with modern well-documented episodes with the same features. In a majority of cases, these events have recurred in the same locations at later times. The proposal that many of these phenomena are caused by seismic activity offers an alternative to the suggestions of many modern scholars, who ascribe many of the luminous events to lightning, meteors or comets and some sonics to exploding meteors or thunderstorms. This reappraisal of the ancient portents vindicates the seemingly fantastic reports that occur in the ancient texts, especially some of the poetic or religious sources, and rehabilitates the reputation of the authors who have documented these events. In the process it also adds to the catalogue of geophysical phenomena caused by earthquakes in the classical world.

Orientador: Mateus José Rodrigues Paranhos da Costa / Coorientador: Joslaine Noely dos Santos Gonçalves Cyrillo / Coorientador: Karen Shelley Schwartzkopf-Genswein / Banca: Fernando Sebastián Baldi Rey / Banca: Renata Helena Branco / Resumo: O objetivo foi estudar o processo de adaptação ao confinamento avaliando se há variação entre diferentes grupos de bovinos e suas relações com temperamento. Foram avaliados animais em dois bancos de dados. No estudo 1: utilizados animais dos grupos genéticos Nelore Seleção (NeS), Nelore Controle (NeC) e Guzerá (Guz). No estudo 2: animais dos grupos genéticos Nelore e Cruzado. Indicadores de adaptação: peso vivo, ganho de peso, por período e total; tempo de permanência no cocho (TPC) e atos agressivos (AGR) (somente no estudo 2). Medidas de temperamento: Escore de movimentação e Tensão; Velocidade de saída, sendo que no estudo 2 foram incluídas duas medidas: Distância de fuga e Teste de Condução. Foram utilizadas análises de correlação residual GLM (Manova) para análise de associação entre as medidas, PROC MIXED do SAS para avaliar e quantificar os efeitos das medidas umas sobre as outras, além do cálculo de repetibilidade por meio dos componentes de variâncias dentro e entre animais. Constatou-se que animais considerados de melhores temperamentos possuem maiores TPC e maiores AGR e que é possível avaliar o processo de adaptação, verificado através das correlações significativas entre as medidas estudadas, melhoria no temperamento ao longo do tempo, aumento do TPC e redução da AGR. Sendo assim, conclui-se que NeS, no estudo 1, obteve melhor capacidade de adaptação, devido aos melhores resultados de desempenho, temperamento e comportamento alimentar, seguido de NeC e Guz. Em contrapartida, no estudo 2, não houve diferenças em desempenho e temperamento entre os dois grupos genéticos, entretanto, a maior freqüência de AGR foi no Cruzado, sugerindo provável dificuldade de adaptação a este grupo / Abstract: The aim was to study the process of adaptation to confinement evaluating whether there is variation between different groups of cattle and their relationship to temperament. Animals were evaluated in two farms. In study 1, Nellore Selection (NES), Nelore Control (NEC) and Guzera (Guz). In study 2, Nellore and Crossbreed. Adaptation indicators: weight, weight gain per period and total time spent at the trough (TPT) and aggressive acts (AGR) (only in study 2). Measures of temperament, movement and tension score, flight speed and in study 2 included two measures: Flight distante and handling test. We used GLM residual correlation analysis (Manova) to analyze the association between the measures, PROC MIXED of SAS to evaluate and quantify the effects of measures on each other, and the calculation of repeatability through the components of variance within and between animals. It was found that animals which have better temperaments showed TPT larger and AGR larger and is possible to evaluate the adaptation process, verified by the significant correlations between the measures studied, improvement in mood over time, increase in TPT and reduction of AGR. Thus, we conclude that NeS, in study 1, had the best ability to adapt, due to best performance, temperament and feeding behavior, followed by NeC and Guz. In contrast, in study 2, there were no differences in performance and temperament between the two genetic groups, however, Crossbreed had greater frequency of AGR, suggesting a probable difficulty in adapting to this group / Mestre

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-02-16T13:02:43Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO_FELIPE_Biblioteca.pdf: 2170000 bytes, checksum: af1703db79d97fbe8ce2535a90aa2574 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-16T13:02:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO_FELIPE_Biblioteca.pdf: 2170000 bytes, checksum: af1703db79d97fbe8ce2535a90aa2574 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-31 / CNPq / No Brasil os estudos um dos principais focos dos estudos etológicos com peixes recifais é a espécie Stegastes fuscus (Cuvier, 1830); a mais representativa em abundância e frequência nos recifes rasos de Pernambuco. Neste contexto, este estudo teve por objetivos; (1) descrever o repertório comportamental de S. fuscus, criando etogramas descritivos e ilustrados com todos os comportamentos observados, e (2) analisar o comportamento de defesa territorial da espécie. Dez horas de observações preliminares e 68h de observações ad libitum e animal focal, e 20h de experimento in situ foram realizadas nos recifes naturais da praia de Porto de Galinhas, Ipojuca. Três áreas foram escolhias por suas características diferentes: (1) ponto do Fundo Recifal, (2) ponto da Praia, (3) ponto do Topo Recifal. As observações geraram um etograma com nove categorias comportamentais motoras: natação, alimentação, defecação, limpeza de território, limpeza do corpo, saída do território, interação social, abrigo, agonístico; e duas sonoras: pop e burr. O ponto do fundo recifal foi o de menor densidade de S. fuscus, com 0,3 peixes/m², e onde se encontraram os maiores territórios (1,45 m² em média). Os maiores valores de densidade, cobertura e locas foram encontrados no ponto da Palythoa. As regressões obtidas para o comprimento dos indivíduos e as variáveis avaliadas mostraram tendência para a relação entre o comprimento dos indivíduos e o número de locas, no ponto do fundo. Provavelmente neste pontoo mais importante para os peixes é a presença de abrigo. Foram registrados peixes afastando-se quase 10 m de seus territórios. Pode-se afirmar que área de vida da espécie está associada ao ambiente ao redor. A taxa de alimentação diminuiu conforme aumentou o número de interações agonística. O número de atos alimentares por minuto só diminuiu de forma significativa quando houve mais de dois atos agonísticos. Este ponto representa um limiar que define até onde é vantajoso para o peixe manter a defesa de territórios. Durante as observações experimentaisforam identificados sete padrões de reação aos objetos. São elas: evitar, não interagir, observar e sair, observar e aproximar-se aos poucos, observar e examinar, observar e ameaçar com display, e observar e expulsar. As diferentes respostas demonstram como o comportamento territorialista da espécie está tão associado às variações individuais e às ambientais. O presente estudo identificou três padrões comportamentais que não foram descritos anteriormente em estudos comportamentais com a família Pomacentridae. / In Brazil the major focus of ethological studies on reef fishes is Stegastes fuscus (Cuvier, 1830); the most representative fish species in abundance and frequency in the shallow reefs of Pernambuco. In this context, this study aimed; (1) describe the behavioral repertoire of S. fuscus, creating descriptive and illustrated ethograms with all the observed behaviors, and (2) to analyze the territorial defense behavior of the species. Ten hours of preliminary observations, 68h of ad libitum and focal animal observations and 20h of in situ experiment were performed on the natural reefs of Porto de Galinhas, Ipojuca. Three areas were chosen by their different characteristics: (1) Reef bottom site, (2) Beach site, (3) Reef flat site. The observations resulted in an ethogram with nine motor behavioral categories: swimming, feeding, defecation, territory maintenance, chafe, leaving the territory, social interaction, shelter antagonistic; and 2 sound: pop and burr. The point of the reef bottom has the lowest density of S. fuscus, with 0.3 fish / m², and where the larger territories were found (1.45 m² on average). The highest density, coverage and hollows values were found at the reef flat. The regressions obtained for the length of the individuals and the variables evaluated tended to find a relationship between the length of individuals and the number of hollows the reef bottom. Probably it’s more important for the fish the presence of shelter. Fish were recorded almost 10 m away of their territories. The home range of the species is associated with the environment around. The feed rate decreased as the number of agonistic interactions increased. The number of feeding acts per minute only decreased significantly when there were more than two agonistic actions per minute. This point is a threshold that defines how far it is advantageous for the fish to keep the protection areas. During the experiment it were identified seven reaction patterns to objects. They are: prevent, not interact, observe and leave, observe and approach slowly, observe and examine, observe and frontal display, and observe and leave. The different responses demonstrate how territorial behavior of the species is associated with individual and environmental variations. This study identified three behavioral patterns that have not been described previously in behavioral studies with the Pomacentridae family.

Ray-finned fish from a diversity of distantly related lineages have remarkably large visual opsin repertoires. Starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus) development, morphology, life history, and behavior make this species especially suitable for experiments designed to determine why fish have so many opsins. Human and bird colour vision uses three and five opsins, respectively. Fish often have many more opsins. We sequenced an eye transcriptome to determine the starry flounder opsin repertoire, and used high performance liquid chromatography to determine the chromophore content of the retina. We found eight visual opsins that utilize only 11-cis-retinal (vitamin A1). This species’ entire visual opsin toolkit appears to be functional. The number of distinct cone and rod cell absorbance profiles determined using microspectrophotomery are consistent with the number of visual opsins in the transcriptome. RH2 transcripts were more abundant and SWS1 and SWS2 transcripts were less abundant in the dorsal retina, where cone density was highest, outer segments the longest, and where we observed double cones with outer segments that differed in their wavelength of maximum absorbance. Regions of fish retinas appear to be specialized and I predict that this fine-tuning is enhanced by photoreceptor plasticity and opsin gene duplication and divergence. Studies that compare opsin expression patterns among individuals, populations, or species typically assume that the differences observed influence vision. Direct connections between opsin expression and quantitative behaviours are rare. This thesis aimed to test whether varying opsin expression affects vision by modifying opsin expression and characterizing vision in starry flounder. We held starry flounder in aquaria exposed to either broad spectrum sunlight or green-filtered light. We tested vision by quantifying the visually-mediated camouflage response and we measured opsin expression using digital-PCR. Granularity analysis of photographs of the camouflage response revealed higher overall pattern energy at each of the seven spatial frequency bands in fish exposed to broad spectrum sunlight compared to the green-filtered fish. However, no statistical difference in typical measurements of pattern or contrast (e.g., maximum filter size, the standard deviation of pattern energy, and the proportional power) was observed between the two groups. Opsin expression was different between fish held in the green light environment compared to those exposed to broad spectrum light. SWS1 (UV sensitive) and SWS2B (blue sensitive) were significantly down regulated in response to the green light environment. Surprisingly, this difference was lost after only three hours under a white LED light, suggesting rapid changes in opsin expression in response to the light environment. We found tantalizing, albeit not statistically significant evidence that fish with higher expression of UV- and blue-wavelength sensitive opsins could see more contrast in colour on blue-green checkerboards. / Graduate

Migration timing is a conserved life-history trait. To address the hypothesis that reproductive hormones are principal determinants of migration timing, I physiologically biopsied over 1000 sockeye salmon and monitored their subsequent behaviour with acoustic and radio telemetry as they migrated from the Pacific Ocean toward and into the Fraser River, and then onward to distant spawning areas. Links between physiology, behaviour, and survival were examined. Circulating testosterone was found to be positively correlated with the rates of river entry in Late-run females but not in males, despite having concentrations that were equal if not higher than those of females. The notion of protandrous migration, in which males synchronize their activities to the reproductive and migratory schedules of females, was postulated as the basis for this difference. Once in river however, successful males and females were those that (1) took longest to enter the river, and (2) had high somatic energy, low testosterone, and low gill Na+,K+-ATPase activities. An experimental test of the effect of reproductive hormones on the regulation of migration timing proved inconclusive. Relative to controls, GnRH and (or) testosterone treatment did not influence rates of ocean travel by males. Unfortunately, no females were examined. Nevertheless, significant, positive correlations between initial testosterone and travel times were found irrespective of hormonal treatment, which was unexpected but consistent with the previous studies. In an experimental simulation of an ‘early’ migration, normally timed Late-run sockeye exposed to typical 10 ºC river temperatures and then released to complete migration were 68% successful. In contrast, salmon held at 18 °C and released were half as successful. The expression of a kidney parasite was near maximal in the 18 °C fish and undetectable in the 10 °C fish. Only gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity differed between groups, with a drop in the 18 °C fish. Though no clear stress, reproductive, or energetic differences were observed between groups, the ultimate effect of high temperature treatment was high disease expression, slowed migration speeds, and high migration mortality. Changes in reproductive schedules, due to changes in latitudinal ocean distributions, are discussed as potential causes of early migration by Late-run sockeye. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

No description available.

Sexual conflict arises in biparental species because of the fitness payoffs of shifting the costs of care onto their partner. The negotiation model asserts that parents actively monitor their partner’s level of investment and adjust their own in response generally resulting in partial compensation when a member of the pair reduces their level of investment. The willingness of one parent to compensate for the other’s change is found to be widely variable. Habitat or resource quality available to pairs may explain such variation. It is predicted that the level of compensation by one partner will increase with decreasing resource quality. I tested this prediction with the biparental burying beetle, <i>Nicrophorus orbicollis</i>. Under natural conditions, burying beetles apply costly social immune molecules to carcasses of small vertebrates to preserve nutritional value for young. The goals of this research were (1) to determine if males immunologically compensate when females are immunologically handicapped; and (2) determine the impact of resource quality on compensation. Changes in lysozyme-like-activity (LLA) and phenoloxidase (PO) production in oral and anal secretions were used to quantify social immune investment. Pairs were provided a mouse carcass of one of three qualities: freshly thawed, aged for 3 days, or aged for 7 days. As expected, female LLA decreased once injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) irrespective of carcass quality. Injections caused significant down regulation of oral PO in females. Male LLA increased as the quality of carcasses decreased when paired with handicapped females. Males showed no changes in PO across treatments or carcass types. My results demonstrate that males compensate for a change in maternal investment and the level of compensation increases as resource quality decreases.

<p>With a stable center of mass, pneumatic-aided movement, and the ability to scale multiple terrain types, the uniquely efficient and lightweight form of spiders has changed the way we think about robotic design. While the number of papers on arachnid biomechanics and spider-based biomimetic robots has been increasing in recent years, the style of analysis and the motion-types analyzed have barely changed since the 1980s. Current analyses are based on a force plate and treadmill design, in which the spider is induced into an escape run. This environmental change can affect the movements of the spider. Here I propose a novel method of testing the biomechanical and kinematic properties of spiders using a tank with a built-in sensor matrix which allows for a more natural environment for the specimens and provides force data from individual legs. The system detects a minimum force of .0196 N and has a sampling rate of 1,000 samples /second, which allows for the analysis of forces during the step. <i>Aphonopelma seemanni</i>, a tarantula commonly used in such research, but whose forces during movement have to date not been analyzed, was recorded walking across the matrix, and the forces, step patterns, joint angles, and center of mass deviations were recorded. Walking indicated significantly different step pattern traits than current literature, and forces per leg (.07281 N±.0235) recorded were much smaller than expected in comparison to other spiders. Statistical analysis also indicated no changes in walking movement over a range of temperatures, which also varies from literature. These findings indicate that further research on spiders should be done with respect to walking gaits in order to improve upon current biomimetic models. </p> <br>