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Master of Science - Science / Positive affective states guide the proximate performance of the appetitive and consummatory components of behaviours, such as foraging, that ultimately increase an animal’s fitness. Accordingly, promoting foraging in captive animals can enhance their welfare, defined as a predominance of positive (e.g. pleasure) over negative (e.g. stress) affective states. In three sets of experiments, I examined social foraging in two captive baboon troops housed at the Johannesburg Zoo, South Africa. I investigated (1) whether watching a demonstrator baboon forage cued conspecific observers to also forage; (2) how two factors known to influence the social transfer of foraging information and the motivation to forage (demonstrator status and hunger/satiation respectively) affected whether an animal was cued to forage upon watching a demonstrator forage; (3) the psychological mechanism through which this change in motivation to forage occurred; and (4) how socially-cued foraging behaviour could be incorporated into environmental enrichment protocols. I recorded the frequency of foraging for individual baboons and for each troop as a whole. I also scored the incidence of aggression in both troops. Upon watching a demonstrator forage from a monopolisable food source, observers increased their foraging efforts elsewhere in the enclosure. Demonstrator identity influenced the incidence of foraging by observers, with how well the demonstrator predicted food reward, rather than its status per se, determining observer foraging frequency. The psychological mechanism mediating the increase in foraging behaviour, as well as the effect of observer hunger/satiation on foraging, were unclear. The increased frequency of foraging by observers was accompanied by only a small rise in aggression. My data indicate that the use of social cues to motivate foraging behaviour could be employed to augment standard foraging enrichment protocols aimed at improving the welfare of captive animals.

S. chartarum spores are prevalent in buildings affected by flooding and have been tied to occurrences of pulmonary hemosiderosis in infants in Cleveland, Ohio, several years ago. Rationale: Past studies have focused on the effects of S. chartarum spores on surfactant in terms of composition and quantity and very little has been done to investigate the effects of S. chartarum extracts on surfactant protein expression in the fetal lung. Methods: Spore extracts were incubated with cultures of human lung A549 cells, fetal rat lung type II and fibroblast cells. MTT formazan assays analyzed cell viability. The expression of surfactant protein A and surfactant protein B was assessed using western blotting results. Captive bubble surfactometry investigated the quality of surfactant in terms of surface tension and bubble volume. Electron microscopy examined changes in cellular structure of treated cells. Conclusions: Exposure to S. chartarum extracts had negative effects on cell viability, expression of surfactant proteins A and B and the production and quality of pulmonary surfactant. Spore associated changes were apparent in the lamellar bodies of fetal rat lung alveolar type II, and human A549 cells.

S. chartarum spores are prevalent in buildings affected by flooding and have been tied to occurrences of pulmonary hemosiderosis in infants in Cleveland, Ohio, several years ago. Rationale: Past studies have focused on the effects of S. chartarum spores on surfactant in terms of composition and quantity and very little has been done to investigate the effects of S. chartarum extracts on surfactant protein expression in the fetal lung. Methods: Spore extracts were incubated with cultures of human lung A549 cells, fetal rat lung type II and fibroblast cells. MTT formazan assays analyzed cell viability. The expression of surfactant protein A and surfactant protein B was assessed using western blotting results. Captive bubble surfactometry investigated the quality of surfactant in terms of surface tension and bubble volume. Electron microscopy examined changes in cellular structure of treated cells. Conclusions: Exposure to S. chartarum extracts had negative effects on cell viability, expression of surfactant proteins A and B and the production and quality of pulmonary surfactant. Spore associated changes were apparent in the lamellar bodies of fetal rat lung alveolar type II, and human A549 cells.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 23, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-91).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-91). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Understanding stress in primates has wide ranging implications. It impacts how we understand human stress from an evolutionary perspective and how captive and laboratory primates are kept to best impact their health and well-being. Stress studies in non-human primates often focus on measuring cortisol. Cortisol can be measured in blood, urine, feces, saliva, or hair in primates. Quantification of cortisol is typically achieved by enzyme or radio immunoassay, high performance liquid chromatography, or mass spectroscopy. Once cortisol is quantified, it is traditionally related to stress in primates by determining associations to variables classically seen as potential stressors, such as dominance rank, aggression received, food availability, or moving facilities for captive primates. It is vitally important that researchers engaging in non-human primate cortisol research properly select the sample type and quantification method best suited to answer their particular research questions. It is also important that the quantification of cortisol and the subsequent reporting of methods and results obtained is done correctly and transparently so that other researchers are able to interpret and build upon previous results. In this dissertation, the past instances of non-human primate cortisol analyses are reviewed with a particular focus on urinary analyses. A critical view is taken of past methods and means of reporting results, and suggestions for better practices are made. Researchers should be reporting ranges of raw values measured for cortisol in order to help establish expected values in specific species, as well as explicit justifications for protocol modifications if any are made. A new method for assessment of urinary cortisol in bonobos (Pan paniscus) is validated and reported. A longitudinal study of captive bonobos at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium contributed 154 urine samples for analyses over three field seasons (2012, 2013, and 2014). A commercially available cortisol EIA kit (Arbor Assays, Ann Arbor, MI) was determined to be appropriate for use in bonobos and subsequently used to test 154 urine samples. A diurnal cortisol rhythm was detected in bonobos for the first time. Individual differences were identified in AM and PM samples and will be the foundation for future behavioral association investigations.

Thesis (M.S. in natural resource sciences)--Washington State University, December 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan. 21, 2010). "Department of Natural Resource Sciences." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.