Thesis (Ph.D. 1974) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Zoology, 1974.

Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (May 18, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2002. / Title from t.p. of PDF document (viewed Apr. 17, 2005). Includes bibliographical references (p. 242-264).

This thesis investigates aspects of the community ecology of rabbit parasites with particular emphasis upon the gut helminths, utilising a 23 (later extended to 26) year time series of rabbits and their parasites. A clearer understanding of parasite communities can lead to more effective biological control strategies. Rabbits are regarded as a serious pest species throughout Europe and the Antipodes and the use of the myxomatosis virus, as a biological control agent, has already been tried and failed. However, a clearer picture of the parasite community may offer future possibilities for control. Additionally, the rabbit is a good model for other grazing species, as it carries a similar gut helminth community. Drug resistance is an increasing problem in a wide range of parasites. A clearer appreciation of parasite communities could also aid in the search for effective and environmentally sound pathogen control strategies (e.g. via cross immunity or competition with benign species). Theoretical models have revealed the importance of aggregation to the stability of the host parasite relationship, to parasite evolution and to interspecific parasite interactions. A number of models have considered the effect of varying aggregation upon these dynamics with differing outcomes to those where aggregation was a fixed parameter. Here the stability of the distribution for each of the rabbit helminths was examined using Taylor's power law. The analyses revealed that aggregation was not a stable parameter but varied with month, year, host sex, host age, and host myxomatosis status. Evidence for the existence of interspecific parasite interactions in natural systems has been equivocal. Factors influencing parasite intensity were evaluated for the gut helminth. A network of potential interactions between the parasites was revealed. Only month was shown to be of greater influence on the community. Following, from the above analyses, a community model was constructed which incorporated both seasonal forcing and interspecific parasite interactions, with interaction mediated via host immunity. One unexpected emergent property was an interaction between the seasonality and the immune decay rate with slower immune decay resulting in a shift of the immune response out of phase with the species against which it was produced. The model was also used to assess the potential effects of two control strategies, an anticestodal and a single species vaccine. The vaccine had greater effects on the whole community than the anticestodal because of the immune- mediated interactions. The host is also an integral part of the community as the parasite dynamics are linked with that of their host. Therefore an assessment of the parasites' impact upon host condition and fecundity was also undertaken. This revealed a variety of positive and negative associations between the parasites and their host, with potential implications for future host control strategies. This study has shown that ignoring parasite-parasite or parasite-host interactions and interactions of both the host and the parasite with the external environment, could result in a poor description of the community dynamics. Such complexities need to be considered and incorporated into theory if future control strategies for either host or parasites are to be effective.

There is a need to develop a range different VLP for use as nanoscale templates and vaccines. The aim of this research was to develop RHDV VLP as a versatile vaccine delivery system easily modified for use against a wide range of different diseases. Production of Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) capsid protein in a baculovirus system led to the self-assembly of Virus-like Particles (VLP) that could be purified to greater than 99% purity using simple methods. The capsid gene, vp60, can be manipulated genetically to incorporate immunogenic peptide sequences or a functional DNA-binding site. Fusion of these small epitopes to VP60 was well tolerated, forming VLP and greatly enhanced the presentation of peptide to, and activation of CD4+ T helper cell hybridoma. To avoid constraints imposed on chimeric VLP and dramatically increase the versatility of RHDV VLP, rapid conjugation of antigen was carried out, employing the hetero-bifunctional chemical linker, sulpho-SMCC. Incorporation of sulfhydral groups by design or treatment with SATA allowed for great versatility, in turn enabling many diverse peptides and proteins to be conjugated to VLP. RHDV VLP and consequently the conjugated GFP antigen were efficiently taken up by DC with more than 85% of DC positive for GFP by flow cytometry. This was also visualised by confocal microscopy and electron microscopy of both gold- labelled VLP and conjugated antigen. RHDV VLP conjugate was shown to induce the significant up regulation of the activation markers CD40, CD80, CD86 and MHC class II on the surface of dendritic cells (DC). As well, DC pulsed with RHDV VLP/OVA effectively presented OVA to both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells transgenic for respective peptide-specific T cell receptors, eliciting a greater proliferative response in both T cell subsets than antigen delivered alone. The surface accessibility of peptides on VLP was demonstrated, while administration of VLP/Ovalbumin (OVA) conjugate in mice was shown to evoke very high titre antibody responses specific for conjugated antigen. VLP/OVA conjugates were also shown to induce IFN-γ production and OVA-specific cytotoxic killing in vivo, of up to 80% of fluorescently labelled, adoptively transferred target cells. No distinguishable cytotoxicity was detected in unimmunised control mice. This assay was also used to demonstrate the necessity for antigen to be conjugated to VLP, as antigen mixed with VLP induced only sub-optimal killing. To investigate the anti-tumour effects, mice vaccinated with VLP conjugated to OVA protein, CD4+ or CD8+ T cell OVA epitopes were inoculated with B16- OVA tumour cells and monitored for tumour growth. Untreated control mice had to be sacrificed by day 19, while mice immunised with either VLP/OVA or VLP conjugated with both CD4+ and CD8+ OVA epitopes, showed a significant delay in tumour growth (P = 0.0002), with one mouse remaining free of palpable tumour until day 92. These results show that RHDV VLP can be easily produced and purified and demonstrate the versatility of this RHDV capsid. Rapid conjugation techniques allowed the modification of VLP with both peptide and protein rendered these antigens highly immunogenic, stimulating both humoral and cell-mediated immunity targeted against conjugated antigens of choice. The versatility and immune stimulating properties of RHDV VLP provides a molecular tool with almost limitless applications within the fields of nanotechnology and immunology.

The European rabbit lives in defined social groups of between two and about twenty individuals. There are distinct social hierarchies within each group. Rabbits are known to scent-mark their environment with secretions from several glands, and the secretion of the submandibular cutaneous gland is strongly correlated with social status. Dominant, male rabbits have a higher secretory activity of the gland, and show much more scent-marking behaviour than do any other individuals within the social group. This study was principally conducted at Hope Farm, Cattai National Park in New South Wales, Australia.The proteinaceous components of the secretion varied between individuals, but the protein profile of an individual did not change over time.It was found that dominant rabbits chin mark preferentially at the entrances to warrens, and at the boundaries of their territory.The work in this study provides new insights into the way that rabbit semiochemical messages work. The difference between the secretion of a subordinate and a dominant rabbit appears to be due to the presence or absence of one compound, 2-phenoxy ethanol. This compound, with known fixative properties, supports the idea that the only difference between dominant and subordinate secretions is whether or not they persist in the environment after marking. Such a mechanism for asserting dominance may be much more common in mammals than is apparent from the published literature / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Darbo tikslas: išmatuoti Lietuvoje paplitusių pilkųjų ir baltųjų kiškių kaukoles ir nustatyti šių kiškių kaukolių morfologinius tarprūšinius skirtumus. Tyrimas buvo atliekamas Kauno Tado Ivanausko zoologijos muziejuje, naudojant šiame muziejuje esančią kiškių kaukolių kolekciją. Osteometrinei analizei naudota 29 L. europaeus, 21 L. timidus kaukolės. Makroskopinei palyginamajai analizei naudota 68 L. europaeus, 24 L. timidus kaukolės. Osteometrinei analizei atlikti buvo pasirinkti 31 matavimas. 21 matavimas atliktas remiantis F. Palacios metodika, modifikuota F. Riga ir kt. (2001 m.), 10 matavimų atlikti pagal A. von den Driesch (1976) metodiką. Matavimai atlikti elektroniniu slankmačiu 0,01 mm tikslumu. Makroskopinė palyginamoji analizė buvo atliekama remiantis F. Palacios 1998 m. metodika. Tyrimo metu tarp rūšių nustatyta 15 statistiškai patikimų matmenų (P<0,05) ir 8 makrsokopinės anatomijos tarprūšiniai skirtumai. Išvados: pilkųjų kiškių veidinė dalis yra ilgesnė ir platesnė už baltųjų kiškių. Pilkųjų kiškių kiaušo dalis yra aukštesnė už baltųjų kiškių, tačiau baltiesiems kiškiams būdinga platesnė priekinė kiaušo dalis. Bendras kaukolės ilgis tarp rūšių nesiskiria, tačiau baltųjų kiškių kaukolės yra platesnės. Atlikus tarprūšinę pilkųjų ir baltųjų kiškių kaukolių ir apatinių žandikaulių osteologinę analizę, nustatyti 7 kaukolės ir 1 apatinio žandikaulio skirtumas. / Aim: To measure the spread of European and Mountain rabbit skulls in Lithuania as well as determine the morphological differences and variations of the skulls between the species. The study was conducted at Tadas Ivanauskas Zoology Museum in Kaunas, using the collection of the rabbit skulls presented there. In terms of the study, the 29 L. europaeus, 21 L. timidus skulls were used for Osteometric analysis while 68 L. europaeus, 24 L. timidus skulls were used for macroscopic comparative analysis. During the Osteometric investigation, thirty one measurement was performed in total, in which twenty one of them was based on F. Palacios methodology (modified F.Riga et al., (2001)) while other ten were based on A. von den Driesch (1976) methodology. Measurements were performed using electronic caliper with 0.01mm accuracy. Macroscopic comparative analysis was performed with reference to F. Palacios, (1998) methodology. As a result, fifteen statistically relevant dimensions (P<0,05) were discovered along with eight macroscopic anatomical variations between the species. Conclusions: The facial part of the European rabbit skull is longer and wider when compared to the Mountain rabbit skull. In addition, the neurocranium of the European rabbit skull is higher. However, Mountain rabbits typically have wider frontal area of the neurocranium. Overall length of the skull remains the same between the species, nevertheless, white rabbits were discovered to have generally wider skulls. The... [to full text]

The European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, was introduced to Australia in 1859 and quickly became a significant vertebrate pest species in the country across a wide distribution. In arid and semi-arid environments, rabbit populations exist as metapopulations - undergoing frequent extinction recolonisation cycles. Previous studies identified population genetic structuring at the regional level between arid and semi-arid environments, and habitat heterogeneity was suggested as a possible causal factor. For the most part, rabbit behaviour has been overlooked as a factor that could contribute to explaining population genetic structure in arid and semi-arid environments. This study utilised a combination of genetic sampling techniques and a simulated territorial intrusion approach to observing wild rabbit behaviour in arid and semi-arid environments. The genetic component of the study compared population samples from each region using four polymorphic microsatellite loci. The behavioural component examined variation in the level of territoriality exhibited by three study populations in the arid region towards rabbits of known versus unknown origins (resident vs transgressor (simulating dispersal)). A difference was observed in population genetic structure determined from nuclear markers between arid and semi-arid regions, which supports findings of previous research using mitochondrial DNA data in the same area. Additionally, differences in aggressive response to known vs unknown rabbits were identified in parts of the arid region, which together with the effects of habitat heterogeneity and connectivity may explain the observed differences in population genetic structure. Knowledge of behavioural plasticity and its effect on relative dispersal success and population genetic structure may contribute to improved management and control of feral rabbit populations at the regional level within Australia; and may assist with conservation efforts in the species' natural range in Europe.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 2000. / A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, December, 2000. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-243).