University, Diss., 2004--Kiel.

University, Diss., 2004--Kiel.

Thesis (M. Sc. Agric(Pasture science))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileous virginianus) are an important game animal and provide intrinsic value to many people. However, disease has become of great concern within white-tailed deer populations. Frequency of contract drives the establishment and spread of infectious diseases among susceptible hosts. Supplemental feed provided to increase white-tailed deer survival or create hunting opportunities, as well as bait stations to aid in capture of deer, may increase contact opportunities and disease transfer. My objective was to quantify the effects of bait sites on indirect contact between deer. I examined data from global positioning system (GPS) collars placed on 27 deer near Carbondale, Illinois, USA, from 2002 to 2005. Location data from GPS collars were used to ensure that I quantified contacts between deer in separate social groups, based on the volume of intersection of their spatial utilization distributions and correlation of movements. I matched 35 bait site locations and control sites not containing bait based on local land cover composition. Pairwise indirect contacts between deer were tabulated within a 10, 25, 50, 75, or 100-m buffer around each bait and control site. Indirect contact frequencies between bait and control sites were compared using mixed-model Poisson regression with deer pair as a random-effect variable and bait, joint utilization distribution (JUD), and year as fixed-effect variables. Contact frequencies did not differ significantly (P<0.05) between bait sites and control sites at any buffer distance, implying that small bait piles used to capture deer have minimal effect on contact frequencies. However, the effect of more consistent and greater quantities of food distributed during supplemental feeding programs should be studied further to determine its impact on contact rates and spatial distribution of deer. Understanding the spatial distribution of white-tailed deer is important to implement effective disease and population management within localized areas. The objective of this study was to measure the home-range fidelity of female deer in an exurban deer herd in southern Illinois. I compared location data of 7 deer that had been collected in 2004-2005 and 2008. I used the volume of intersection (VI) and percent of home range overlap to statistically compare the two annual home ranges for each deer. Deer were located used ground-based radiotelemetry and home ranges were characterized using a fixed kernel utilization distribution. Comparing home ranges between years, the mean VI was 0.45 with little variation (range 0.35-0.55). I found the mean percent overlap of 50% isopleths to be 47.1% (range 31.3-71.7%) and the mean overlap of 95% isopleths to be 62.0% (range 44.3-68.6%). My results indicate that female white-tailed deer on our study area showed strong home-range fidelity, which could permit disease and population management by removing deer and reducing local deer densities.

Sonic hedgehog (Shh) is an important signalling protein expressed extensively in development, throughout tissues of the central nervous system, gut and the posterior of the limb bud. The complicated expression pattern of Shh is regulated by a series of long-range enhancers located flanking and dispersed throughout a 1 Mb genomic desert. Disruption of SHH as a result of mutations within the gene or its enhancers has been implicated in two developmental conditions. These are Holoproencephaly (HPE3) a common developmental defect of the forebrain and frequently the mid-face in humans, and preaxial polydactyly (PPD), a congenital limb abnormality encompassing a varied phenotype affecting the digits on the anterior side of the hands and feet that has been attributed to misexpression of Shh. In order to investigate the Shh regulatory landscape and survey regulatory activity, a transposon-based chromosomal engineering strategy known as the local hopping enhancer detection (LHED) system was employed. Using this method a targeting vector containing a LacZ reporter gene as well as LoxP sites was inserted within the Shh region. The ‘hopping’ nature of the transposable element was then exploited to scatter it throughout the region. Tetraploid complementation embryos derived entirely from ES cells were generated and examined in order to gain an insight into enhancer activity. The region was found to be in an open conformation over its length and is generally susceptible to all Shh enhancers. Genes within the regulatory domain, such as the widely expressed Rnf32 gene, were found to resist Shh enhancer activities by a process of regulatory evasion by the promoter, a mechanism that may be common in large regulatory domains. Finally, at the boundaries of the region Shh activity was found to be lost incrementally at a number of genomic positions. Mouse lines were also generated to look at both enhancer activity and loss of function effects and three deletions of increasing size were generated between Shh and the furthest enhancer, the Zrs. These in turn, delete firstly a gut and pharyngeal epithelial enhancer, secondly the gut, pharyngeal enhancers as well an oral epithelial enhancer and finally all three epithelial enhancers as well as three forebrain enhancers. Reporter gene expression was found to be lost incrementally from those enhancers deleted without disrupting the rest of the region. Previously unidentified notochord enhancer(s) were found to lie within the region 100-530 kb upstream of Shh. Examination of the resultant phenotypes showed that gut and craniofacial defects were found to occur as a result of the loss of enhancers which drive expression within these tissues. Variable phenotypes were found to occur potentially as a result of temporal changes to Shh expression or as a result of threshold levels of HH being required for normal development. Other enhancers within the Shh region and outwith the deletions were not found to be disrupted by these modifications suggesting the enhancers within the region act independently of each other. The largest deletion resulted in bringing the Zrs (which drives Shh limb expression) within 170 kb of the gene, however limb development; was not, found to be affected suggesting distance is not required for Zrs function. Overall, the LHED transposon system has been utilised in order to examine the Shh region in more detail, allowing mapping of enhancer function by reporter gene expression and examination of phenotypes generated by deletion of enhancers.

I studied population demographics and space-use of white-tailed deer in Manistee and Mason counties in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan during 2005-08. Deer density from spring spotlight distance sampling surveys was 20.1 ± 1.7 deer/km2. The sex ratio was 14 bucks:100 does and the age ratio was 84 fawns:100 does. I radiomarked and monitored 105 does (62 adults and 43 fawns) for survival and space use. Annual adult survival was 0.74 ± 0.06, with most mortalities (n = 8 of 23) caused by human harvest. Adult survival was the highest during winter (1.00) and lowest in autumn (0.81 ± 0.08). Winter/spring fawn survival was 0.74 ± 0.06, with all mortalities caused by predation (n = 4) and starvation (n = 3). Mean size of composite home-ranges and core-areas were 2.0 ± 0.1 km2 and 0.4 ± 0.02 km2, respectively, and did not differ seasonally. Cover-type use did not differ seasonally between home ranges and core areas, indicating that deer did not select specific cover types within their home range. Vegetated openland and mast-producing upland forests received the highest proportion of use in home ranges (47% and 23%, respectively) and core areas (49% and 21%, respectively). These data will be beneficial for modeling deer population growth and response to harvest and to focus habitat management prescriptions for the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.

Landscapes respond to external perturbations over a variety of timescales, including million-year tectonic forcing, millennial to decadal climate fluctuations, and minutes-long high intensity storms or large magnitude earthquakes. In mountainous regions, understanding the role of landslides in driving the hillslope response to these perturbations is paramount for understanding landscape evolution over geologic timescales and hazards over human timescales. Here I analyze the landslide-driven hillslope response over millennial to decadal timescales using a variety of tools and techniques (e.g. tephrochronology, lidar and air photo analysis, field and subsurface investigations, and seismic refraction) in the Waipaoa Basin (New Zealand) and Oregon Coast Range (USA). For the Waipaoa study catchment, pervasive landslides have been sculpting >99% of the hillslopes in response to >50 m of fluvial incision following the shift to a warmer, wetter climate after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (~18 ka). Then, starting in the late 1800s, European settlement resulted in deforestation and conversion of >90% of the landscape to pastureland—spurring a rapid increase in landslide-driven erosion. To quantify the landscape response, I first reconstruct LGM and younger paleosurfaces using tephrochronology and lidar-derived surface roughness to estimate the volume, timing, and distribution of hillslope destabilization. From these reconstructions, I calculate the post-LGM catchment-averaged erosion rate (1.6 mm/yr) and determine that the timing of the initial hillslope adjustment was rapid and occurred by ~10 ka. Second, I quantify the rate and volume of historic hillslope degradation using a 1956-2010 sequence of aerial photographs, lidar, and field reconnaissance to map the spatial extent of active landslides, create a ‘turf index’ based on the extent and style of pastoral ground disruption, correlate that with downslope velocity, and calculate the average annual sediment flux. From the sediment flux, I calculate an erosion rate over the past ~50 years (~20 mm/yr) that is 10x greater than post-LGM. Lastly, in Western Oregon, I confirm that seismic refraction can determine the size (e.g. depth) and failure style of landslides in western Oregon—data needed to incorporate these poorly studied landslides into future landscape evolution or hazard models. This dissertation includes both previously published and unpublished co-authored material.

O município de Bonito e arredores em Mato Grosso do Sul apresentam atrações turísticas relacionadas a diversos tipos de depósitos carbonáticos quaternários, que formam cachoeiras, barragens naturais e tornam as águas de turbidez quase nula. A área está inserida no Parque Nacional da Serra da Bodoquena e na Reserva da Biosfera do Pantanal (UNESCO). As tufas calcárias são rochas porosas formadas pela precipitação do carbonato de cálcio em água doce e podem conter diversos tipos de fósseis. Apresentam-se sob a forma de cachoeiras, barragens e sedimentos lacustres que formam depósitos micríticos inconsolidados, descritos dentro da Formação Xaraiés. Os micritos são extensos e relativamente espessos em toda a região. Contudo, a maior parte das ocorrências está intemperizada, parcialmente erodida e distribuída em áreas limitadas. O presente estudo foca a caracterização paleontológica, granulométrica e geoquímica (elementos maiores, menores, traços e isótopos de carbono e oxigênio), através de levantamento de detalhe dos micritos da área da Mineração Calcário Xaraés, em Bonito (MS). As amostras foram obtidas por furo de trado, coleta de amostras superficiais e de bloco decimétrico orientado para estudo tafonômico, complementado com investigação de campo e amostragem de algumas áreas na Serra da Bodoquena, Pantanal e Corumbá. Os micritos da Mineração Calcário Xaraés, são depósitos lacustres e podem ser descritos em três eventos: 1: base afossilífera, oncólitos, argilominerais e dados isotópicos marcam um período de maior umidade; 2: ostracodes, algas caráceas e gastrópodes fósseis que colonizaram este estágio e a baixa variação dos dados isotópicos sugerem um período estável; 3: gastrópodes de água doce resistentes a ressecamento colonizaram esta etapa, em associação com os dados isotópicos sugerem processos alternados de evaporação e umidade. O topo da seção estudada é marcada por evaporação total da água do lago, morte em massa do gastrópode Biomphalaria e instalação do gastrópode Idiopyrgus. A ausência de estruturas sedimentares, orientação, seleção e fragmentação dos bioclastos e o empacotamento fraco a disperso e feições de alteração dos bioclastos por tempo de exposição na interface água-sedimento denotam condições estáticas do ambiente durante o processo final de deposição. Estas características também sugerem abastecimento do lago por águas subterrâneas, pois produzem menor taxa de alteração dos bioclastos e manutenção das condições químicas da água, como demonstrado pela homogeneidade dos dados geoquímicos. Outros depósitos estudados de micritos também apresentam resultados semelhantes. Há forte presença de indivíduos do gênero Biomphalaria e da Família Hydrobiidae nos depósitos. Dados de campo mostram os depósitos de tufas calcárias na região com extensão maior que as registradas, ocorrendo principalmente próximos aos leitos dos rios atuais, que os dissolvem nos períodos chuvosos. Os depósitos de tufas calcárias da Serra da Bodoquena, principalmente os micríticos, provavelmente foram formados nos últimos 10.000 anos, indicando período mais quente e seco que o atual. Os últimos 2.700 na região podem ser caracterizados por aumento da umidade, extinção dos depósitos micríticos e instalação dos depósitos de tufas de cachoeira e barragens. / Bonito town and surrounding areas in Mato Grosso do Sul state are tourist attractions related with many quaternary carbonate deposits which form waterfalls, dams and render almost zero turbidity waters. That area is part of the National Park of Bodoquena Range and Pantanal Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO). Calcareous tufa are porous rocks formed by calcium carbonate laid down in freshwaters containg a great variety of fossils. They were presented in form of waterfalls, dams and lacustrine sediments, forming unconsolidated micritic deposits, being part of the Xaraés Formation. Micritic deposits are extensive and thick in whole area. Most of the deposits are weathered, partly eroded and distributed in restricted areas. The present study focuses on paleontological, granulometric, and geochemical (major, minor and trace elements, carbon and oxygen isotopes) data. The micritic deposits of Calcário Xaraés Mine in Bonito (MS) are detailed studied. Samples were obtained by auger drilling, also in outcrops area and one orientated centimetric indeformed block for taphomic study. The research was complemented with field study and sampling in the Bodoquena Range, Pantanal and Corumbá. Calcário Xaraés Mine micrites are lacustrine deposits. We described through three events: 1: their base does not contain fossils, but bears oncoids, clayminerals. Isotope data point to a wetter period, 2: ostracods, charophytes and gastropods fossils colonized this episode and homogeneity of isotope data suggest a stable event, 3: freshwater gastropods endured scarce water conditions so colonized the area. The isotope data then was varied suggesting alternated periods of evaporation and humidity. Total water lake evaporation resulted in the mass death of the Biomphalaria gastropod and consequent with diffusion of Idiopyrgus gastropod. Absence of sedimentary structures, bioclastic orientation, selection and fragmentation, weak to dispersal packing bioclast and bioclastic alteration features, are indications of long durantion in the water-sediment interface. These features suggest environmental static conditions during the final deposition. These features also suggest groundwater supplies to the lake, leading to less bioclastic alteration, and maintaing chemical water conditions, such as homogeneity of geochemical data. Other studied micritic deposits show almost the same results. There is strong presence of gastropod Biomphalaria and Hydrobiidae Family on these deposits. Field data show calcareous tufa deposits with an extension larger than the studied area, occurring mainly next to the rivers, which dissolve micritic in the rainy period. Bodoquena Range calcareous tufa deposits, mainly micritic sediments, probably were formed in the last 10.000 years, indicating a hotter and drier period than nowadays. The last 2.700 years in this region can be characterized by humidity increase, micritic deposits extinctions and installation of waterfalls and dams tufa depositions.

O objetivo foi avaliar a influência da adubação nitrogenada ou da suplementação energética sobre a produção e qualidade de uma pastagem de capim papuã (Urochloa lantaginea) e no desempenho e comportamento ingestivo na recria de bovinos de corte. O trabalho foi conduzido na UTFPR-DV, por meio de pastejo contínuo em uma área de 6,3 ha divididos em nove piquetes. Os tratamentos avaliados foram pastagem + nitrogênio, pastagem + suplementação e somente pastagem, com uma oferta de forragem média de 10%. A duração do pastejo foi de 107 dias, utilizando animais mestiços (Nelore x Braford), não castrados, com peso médio de 276 kg. As análises bromatológicas foram semelhantes entre os tratamentos, diferindo apenas para proteína bruta, sendo superior no tratamento com adição de nitrogênio. A taxa de acúmulo apresentou-se maior no tratamento com nitrogênio (55,70 kg de MS/ha/dia) comparado à suplementação e somente pastagem (40,03 e 39,65 kg de MS/ha/dia, respectivamente). A suplementação resultou em maior ganho de peso médio diário (0,815 kg) em comparação com o nitrogênio (0,685 kg) e somente pastagem (0,727 kg). As atividades de ócio, ruminação e consumo de água não diferiram entre os tratamentos, apenas o pastejo apresentou-se inferior nos animais suplementados em relação aos demais. O número de bocados diurnos foi superior (P<0,005) no tratamento com suplementação e somente pastagem em relação ao tratamento com adubação nitrogenada no capim papuã,(2.029,9; 1.863,6 e 1.715,7, respectivamente). A carga animal, os ganhos por área e a composição bromatológica da pastagem não apresentaram diferenças entre os tratamentos. A suplementação energética permite maiores ganhos diários e diminui o tempo dispendido com pastejo sem alterar outras variáveis comportamentais como, ruminação, ócio e ingestão de água. A aplicação adicional de N não afeta a massa de forragem, o perfil botânico e o desempenho animal, apesar de aumentar a taxa de acúmulo diário e os teores de proteína bruta da forragem e contribui para reduzir o número de bocados diariamente e aumenta a taxa de acúmulo da pastagem. / The objective was to evaluate the influence of nitrogen fertilizer or energy supplementation on production and quality of a pasture Alexander grass (Urochloa plantaginea) and performance and feeding behavior in the rearing of beef cattle. The work was conducted at UTFPR – DV through continuous grazing in an area of 6.3 ha divided into nine paddocks. The treatments were grazing + nitrogen + supplementation and grazing pasture only, with a supply of fodder average of 10 %. The duration of grazing was 107 days using crossbred (Nellore x Braford), not neutered, with average weight of 276 kg. The chemical analyzes were similar among treatments, differing only for crude protein, being higher in the treatment with nitrogen addition. The accumulation rate was higher in the treatment with nitrogen (55.70 kg DM/ha/day) compared to supplementation and only pasture (40.03 and 39.65 kg DM/ha/day, respectively). Supplementation resulted in higher average daily weight gain (0.815 kg) compared to nitrogen (0.685 kg) and only pasture (0.727 kg). Leisure activities, rumination and water consumption did not differ between treatments, only grazing presented lower in the supplemented animals compared to the other. The number of bits daytime was higher (P<0.005) in the treatment pasture with supplementation and only in relation to treatment with nitrogen fertilization in Alexander grass, (2029.9, 1863.6 and 1715.7, respectively). Supplementation allows higher daily gains and reduces the time spent on grazing without changing other variables such as behavioral, rumination and water intake. The additional application of N did not affect herbage mass, botanical profile and animal performance, despite increasing the accumulation rate and the crude protein content of forage and helps to reduce the number of bits daily and increases the rate of accumulation pasture.

O objetivo foi avaliar a influência da adubação nitrogenada ou da suplementação energética sobre a produção e qualidade de uma pastagem de capim papuã (Urochloa lantaginea) e no desempenho e comportamento ingestivo na recria de bovinos de corte. O trabalho foi conduzido na UTFPR-DV, por meio de pastejo contínuo em uma área de 6,3 ha divididos em nove piquetes. Os tratamentos avaliados foram pastagem + nitrogênio, pastagem + suplementação e somente pastagem, com uma oferta de forragem média de 10%. A duração do pastejo foi de 107 dias, utilizando animais mestiços (Nelore x Braford), não castrados, com peso médio de 276 kg. As análises bromatológicas foram semelhantes entre os tratamentos, diferindo apenas para proteína bruta, sendo superior no tratamento com adição de nitrogênio. A taxa de acúmulo apresentou-se maior no tratamento com nitrogênio (55,70 kg de MS/ha/dia) comparado à suplementação e somente pastagem (40,03 e 39,65 kg de MS/ha/dia, respectivamente). A suplementação resultou em maior ganho de peso médio diário (0,815 kg) em comparação com o nitrogênio (0,685 kg) e somente pastagem (0,727 kg). As atividades de ócio, ruminação e consumo de água não diferiram entre os tratamentos, apenas o pastejo apresentou-se inferior nos animais suplementados em relação aos demais. O número de bocados diurnos foi superior (P<0,005) no tratamento com suplementação e somente pastagem em relação ao tratamento com adubação nitrogenada no capim papuã,(2.029,9; 1.863,6 e 1.715,7, respectivamente). A carga animal, os ganhos por área e a composição bromatológica da pastagem não apresentaram diferenças entre os tratamentos. A suplementação energética permite maiores ganhos diários e diminui o tempo dispendido com pastejo sem alterar outras variáveis comportamentais como, ruminação, ócio e ingestão de água. A aplicação adicional de N não afeta a massa de forragem, o perfil botânico e o desempenho animal, apesar de aumentar a taxa de acúmulo diário e os teores de proteína bruta da forragem e contribui para reduzir o número de bocados diariamente e aumenta a taxa de acúmulo da pastagem. / The objective was to evaluate the influence of nitrogen fertilizer or energy supplementation on production and quality of a pasture Alexander grass (Urochloa plantaginea) and performance and feeding behavior in the rearing of beef cattle. The work was conducted at UTFPR – DV through continuous grazing in an area of 6.3 ha divided into nine paddocks. The treatments were grazing + nitrogen + supplementation and grazing pasture only, with a supply of fodder average of 10 %. The duration of grazing was 107 days using crossbred (Nellore x Braford), not neutered, with average weight of 276 kg. The chemical analyzes were similar among treatments, differing only for crude protein, being higher in the treatment with nitrogen addition. The accumulation rate was higher in the treatment with nitrogen (55.70 kg DM/ha/day) compared to supplementation and only pasture (40.03 and 39.65 kg DM/ha/day, respectively). Supplementation resulted in higher average daily weight gain (0.815 kg) compared to nitrogen (0.685 kg) and only pasture (0.727 kg). Leisure activities, rumination and water consumption did not differ between treatments, only grazing presented lower in the supplemented animals compared to the other. The number of bits daytime was higher (P<0.005) in the treatment pasture with supplementation and only in relation to treatment with nitrogen fertilization in Alexander grass, (2029.9, 1863.6 and 1715.7, respectively). Supplementation allows higher daily gains and reduces the time spent on grazing without changing other variables such as behavioral, rumination and water intake. The additional application of N did not affect herbage mass, botanical profile and animal performance, despite increasing the accumulation rate and the crude protein content of forage and helps to reduce the number of bits daily and increases the rate of accumulation pasture.