Crickets and Flies
Food Fight! The Effects of Octopamine on Resource Competition in Crickets
J. Leonard and B. Susko
poster.pdf
Chump to Champ: Increasing Cricket Aggression
Christine Beckel and Christine Deyo
Kids of today: Female Mate Choice in Juvenile House Crickets (Acheta domesticus).
Emily Kam, and Seyram Ahiadeke Butame
poster.pdf
Individual Foraging Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Angela Gibbs and Amy Campbell
poster.pdf
Fish (non-electric)
Brave Guppies: A Study in Prey Response
Kate Williams
Female Guppy Preference for her Ancestral Lineage: an Example of Divergence through Sexual Selection
Molly Schumer and Jennifer Jin
poster.pdf
Follow the Light; Light Cueing in Cichlids
William C. McNitt
Participation in Scientific Research Causes Mothers and Young to Become Unfit for Survival Outside of Academic Institutions
Douglas T. Borst
Fighting Females: Effect of Size on Female-Female Aggression in A. burtoni
Julia Carlton and Johnathon Packer
poster.pdf
The Residual Effects of Atrazine Exposure in Goldfish.
Tiffany Cook
Fish (electric)
An Investigation of the Correlation Between Field
Lateralization and Prostrate Side Preference in the S. American
Benthopelagic Electric Knifefish Rhamphichthys rostratus.
Noah Oppenheim and Garon Coriz
Apteronotus albifrons Play Hide-and-Seek All Day Long
Aroon Karra, Amanda Trail, Alex Winters, B.
Fish Foraging: Disturbing the Foraging Behavior of Gnathonemus petersii:
Laila Bryant
Field (outside the lab) Biology
Diving Mallards
Evan Bremer
Analyzing Behavior in Captive Cougars
R. Bond and P. Guzman
Take to the Trees: Patterns in Sciurus carolinensis Behavior.
K.C. Regmi, E.A. Meloche-Justusson
poster.pdf
Social Behaviors of Captive Fruit Bat Species
Jacob Schwartzman, Jamie McNellis
poster.pdf
Now there’s no excuse for bad behavior: Dogs do not find training more stressful than play.
A Mahan
Amphibians
The Lonely Tadpole: A Study of Kin Recognition in Xenopus laevis.
Natalie C. Vizcarra and C. A. Mingoya
poster.pdf
Fire-Bellied Toads are Ambidextrous
Juliana M. Arrighi and Mikella Procopio
Honky-Tonk: The Role of Communication in Canada Geese
Lacy Lackey and Georgia Kirkpatrick
ABSTRACTS
Food Fight! The Effects of Octopamine on Resource Competition in Crickets
J. Leonard and B. Susko
Researchers have observed aggressive competition for resources in
isolated and starved crickets. In these competitions, the initial
possessor of the food pellet usually wins [1]. Octopamine, a
neurotransmitter similar to adrenaline, increases aggressive tendencies
in crickets [2]. We tested whether octopamine injections
increased aggressive behavior during resource competition and whether a
non-possessor would be able to out-compete a possessor under these
conditions. Crickets were starved and anesthetized with CO2 then
injected with either 10% ringer solution (blank) or octopamine (10-2
M). Possessors with octopamine or ringer solution injections were
tested against non-possessors with octopamine or ringer solution
injections. Of the eleven trials performed, only four had a
determinable winner. These results support the results of other
literature by showing that possessors are more likely to remain in
possession of the food than non-possessors. We found no
correlation between success in food competition and octopamine
injections.
1. Nosil P (2002). Food Fights in House Crickets, Achetas domesticus,
and the Effects of Body Size and Hunger Level. Canadian Journal of
Zoology.
2. Matsumoto Y, Sakai M (2001). Brain Control of Mating Behavior in the
Male Cricket Gryllus bimaculatus DeGeer: Excitatory Control of
Copulatory Actions. Zoological Science 18:659-669. poster.pdf
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Chump to champ: Increasing Cricket Aggression
Christine Beckel and Christine Deyo
It has been concluded that cricket aggression is regulated by the
hormone octopamine. It has also been found that the act of flying
increases octopamine levels, or resets them to normal levels once they
have been depressed, usually resulting from losing a fight. We looked
at the effects that flying, swimming, running and immobilization have
on aggression levels in the house cricket Achata domesticus. We used an
ethogram to measure the aggressive behaviors during fights between
males. The losers were then subjected to one of the treatments, and
fought again against a new cricket. We found that the only treatment
with a significant (p = .024) effect on aggression levels was the
flying, although swimming and running may have had a slight increase,
while immobilization may have had a slight decrease in aggression.
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Kids of today: Female mate choice in juvenile house crickets (Acheta domesticus).
Emily Kam, and Seyram Ahiadeke Butame
Current literature shows that for different species of crickets there
is a general preference for large males by female crickets as mates. It
has been shown in many cases that the male size corresponds to the
quality of his song, which females use as a measure of superior
fitness. We tried to determine if this mate choice behavior could be
detected in juvenile crickets, 3-week and 4-week olds. Female crickets
were placed in a tank in between two males of different sizes. In
treatment one, the females were able to see the male crickets, but the
male crickets could not see the females. Treatment two, the females and
the males could see each other. In the control males of similar size
were used and males and females could see each other. Female position
relative to each male was recorded every minute for ten minutes for
each trial, with five trials per treatment. Our results suggested that
female crickets have a preference for larger males. However,
statistical analysis of our data showed that in many cases this might
have been due to chance and not conscious selection on the part of the
female. poster.pdf
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Individual foraging behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Amy Campbell and Angela Gibbs
The foraging gene (for) in Drosophila melanogaster provides a rare
example of a single gene that underlies a naturally occurring complex
behavior. Two variants of this gene have been isolated; individuals
with the rover allele (forR) move greater distances while feeding than
do individuals that are homozygous for the sitter allele (forS). This
difference is present in both larval and adult life stages. However,
whether individual variation in food-search strategy is consistent from
the larval to adult stage for a given individual has never been
investigated. In order to address this question, the foraging behavior
of individuals from populations of forR and forS flies was examined at
both larval and adult developmental stages and then individuals were
genotyped to confirm the allele. While unable to support the hypothesis
that individual foraging behavior is consistent between life stages,
some preliminary data suggests that this is the case. Modifications to
the adult foraging behavior protocol and repetition of the experiment
would provide more conclusive results. poster.pdf
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Brave Guppies: A Study in Prey Response
Kate Williams
A prey’s response to its predator can be a life-changing
behavior. Within a species, there should be variation in response to a
predator based on phenotype because some phenotypes are more easily
detected. Guppies provide a good model for this phenotype study because
there are two easily identified groups of phenotype: small, dull wild
type guppies and large, bright “fancy” guppies. They also
have distinct predator-response behaviors. In this study, two behaviors
were modeled – surface skim evasion and inspection. To look at
these behaviors, horizontal and vertical movement towards and away from
the predator in the test tank was observed and indices for these
movements were calculated and used as a basis of comparison. The
results, however, showed little difference both in predator response
between phenotypes and in the presence or absence of the predator in
general. The only significant difference in behavior occurred in
horizontal movement, with the larger, brighter fish swimming farther
from the predator and the wild type swimming closer to the predator.
However, previous studies have shown that there should potentially be
little response to predators in lab guppies. To draw true conclusions
from this sort of data, therefore, one would need to repeat this
experiment using guppies collected from a natural environment.
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Female Guppy preference for her ancestral lineage: an example of divergence through sexual selection
Molly Schumer and Jennifer Jin
Previous research has shown partial reproductive isolation between two
lineages of Poecilia reticulata, the common guppy and the endlers
livebearer. Although there is no evidence of genetic incompatibility
between these population, they diverge both morphologically and in
mating display behavior, and rarely interbreed (Alexander and Breden,
2004). Female guppy preference for males of her ancestral lineage may
be adaptive; native males are likely to have traits better suited for
survival in that environment than foreign males, and females may select
genes that are successful in their environment when they choose a
native male. Such sexual selection creates prezygotic isolation that
has already produced morphological and genetic divergence (Alexander
and Breeden, 2004), and may eventually result in a speciation event.
Our study investigated whether female guppy mate choice drives
reproductive isolation between the two populations, and whether females
are primarily using visual or behavioral mechanisms to differentiate
between males. In both choice tests, females preferred the male
guppies, demonstrating that female mate choice could be the cause of
low levels of interbreeding. In the first experiment, females evaluated
males based on visual stimuli. Though research has shown that females
favor orange coloration (Dugatkin and Godin, 1998), females preferred
male guppies, even though male endlers were significantly more orange.
In the second experiment, females chose males based on both visual and
behavioral stimuli; male endlers did not display, and females again
preferred guppies. However, there was no significant difference between
female preference for guppies in the first and second experiments,
suggesting that females are primarily using visual cues to
differentiate between males. poster.pdf
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Follow the Light; Light Cueing in Cichlids
William C. McNitt
Species of cichlid fish in Lake Victoria demonstrate mate preference
based on red and blue color morphs, and furthermore there appears to be
a correlation between color morph, range of vision, and environmental
ambient light conditions (Maan et al., 2006). The purpose of this
research is to investigate the ability of cichlid fish to detect
various colors of light in the vertical plane and to determine if the
cichlids have a preference for a particular color. In order to
investigate this, a small population of cichlids was first exposed to a
regimen that combined light stimuli with the appearance of food and
then tested for the ability to later react to light stimuli as though
food were going to appear. No significant differences between
groups were detected, however this is most likely due to a flaw in the
experimental design. Further research should be conducted with
modified experimental conditions in order to obtain meaningful data.
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Participation in scientific research causes mothers and young to become unfit for survival outside of academic institutions
Douglas T. Borst
Astatotilapa burtoni is a species of cichlid fish that is commonly used
in genetic research. Despite their great use in this fields,
little is known about their patterns of behavior in reproduction and
care of young. In this study I explored several experimental
methods that could be used to quantify the effects of motherhood and
genetics on the behavior of cichlid fry. While few trials were
run because of the constraints of time and the availability of
experimental subjects, initial results do suggest that stocks of A.
burtoni raised in captivity for extended periods have picked up
behavioral traits that would decrease fitness. Wild cichlid fry are
much more likely to seek out their mother and swim near the bottom of
the water column when placed in a new environment, while lab-stock seem
to display much more ambivalence towards both their mother and their
position in the water column. The experiments run were not
sufficient to determine weather this effect was the result of
behavioral changes in the mother, or genetic changes in the fry.
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Fighting Females: Effect of Size on Female-Female Aggression in A. burtoni
Julia Carlton and Jonathan Packer
Female aggressive behavior is common in cichlids, but not much is known
about the circumstances under which it occurs. We looked at one
potential factor, body length, in the African cichlid Astatotilapia
burtoni, to better understand the nature of female aggression. We
isolated females of varying life history stages (all wild A. burtoni)
and then placed them in a divided resource-free tank with one female on
each side, allowing 10 minutes for habituation. We removed the divider,
and we filmed 5-minute bouts of female-female interactions and
male-female interactions, with 16 fish of varying body length, in this
resource-free environment over the course of 2 weeks. We analyzed their
behavior using focal observation with a 5-point ethogram and a model
for aggression both based on a Texas cichlid study on the effect of
size (length) on male aggression. This study found a significant effect
for male-male interaction, but not male-female. Much like the Texas
cichlid study, we found that length does not have a significant effect
on aggressive behavior in male-female interactions, nor in
female-female interactions in A. burtoni. This suggests that there must
be some other factor at work, as female aggressive behavior clearly
varies. It is likely that the female ovarian cycle is a better
indicator of aggressive behavior, a factor that must be studied
further. poster.pdf
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The Residual Effects of Atrazine Exposure in Goldfish
Tiffany Cook
One of the most common pesticides present as a pollutant in the
Willamette River, according to the USGS, is Atrazine. These
experiments focus on the long term effects that a short exposure to
this herbicide has on Carassius auratus, or the common feeder goldfish.
Goldfish were exposed overnight to three different concentrations of
Atrazine (0.5, 5, and 50 µg/L), then transported back to a tank
of pure water where they remained for the remainder of the first
experiment. Burst swimming was used as a measurement of the level
of stress upon the goldfish. By counting “burst
swims,” or sudden darts with a clear stop, it was found that,
while overnight exposures to Atrazine did alter the fish behavior,
after several days, the behavior of the fish returned to its original
state (as compared to a control group of fish). It was also found
that between two and four days after exposure, the goldfish exhibited
maximum burst swimming behaviors.
When this experiment was completed, a second was conducted to determine
if the effects of Atrazine are additive. The same goldfish were
exposed again to the same doses of Atrazine for the exact same amount
of time. Burst swimming was again used as the form of stress
level measurement. When compared to the data from the first
experiment, no significant difference was found. Therefore, the
effects of Atrazine on burst swimming behavior are not additive.
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An investigation of
the correlation between field lateralization and prostrate side
preference in the South American benthopelagic electric knifefish Rhamphichthys rostratus.
Noah Oppenheim and Garon Coriz
A correlation was observed between field lateralization and prostrate
side preference in the pulse-gymnotid Rhamphichthys rostratus. This
study attempted to statistically demonstrate that correlation using
five individuals over the course of three weeks. Rhamphichthys
rostratus is a benthopelagic gymnotiform native to the costal rivers of
northeastern South America (reference
http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=28040). Side
preference was measured using scan sampling of individual fish
positions two to three times per day. Electric field lateralization was
determined by measuring the voltage emitted by the fish at specific
points adjacent to the fish as far as five cm away. Correlations were
drawn from scores of right/left side position preference and scores of
relatively stronger field from relative points on the right and left
sides. One fish out of the five exhibited a strong correlation between
field lateralization and side preference (p = 0.031 left and 0.0078
left for ethogram and field mapping sides, respectively). All other
fish exhibited significant field lateralization (p < 0.001). One
other exhibited significant slight side preference (p = 0.0192), the
side opposite its field lateralization.
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Apteronotus albifrons Play Hide-and-Seek All Day Long
Aroon Karra, Amanda Trail, Alex Winters
Apteronotus albifrons is a weakly electric fish from South America that
generates a discharge from an electric organ that is believed to be
used for navigation, object detection and communication. These fish are
also nocturnal and hide in select retreat sites during the day. From
previous studies concerning a closely related fish, Apteronotus
leptorhynchus, it was shown that there were clear retreat site
preferences amongst fish; dominance relationships determined by the
fish’s frequency were also shown to exist. Our study
assessed whether these same relationships existed in A.
albifrons. We first assessed retreat site preferences in A.
albifrons by providing individual fish with tubes that differed in
color, length and diameter. In individual tests, fish had a strong
preference for black tubes over white tubes. There was no significant
preference in tubes of differing diameter. Also, there was no
significant preference in length due to non-independence of tube
preference and tank side preference. We then assessed group
preference by grouping five fish into a single tank with six tubes that
differed in color, length and diameter. Group testing showed that
fish preferred black tubes over white tubes and tubes with a length of
six and eight inches over a length of four inches. There was also
an association between high electric organ discharge frequencies in
grouped fish and preferred tube selection in variable color and length
tubes.
Fish Foraging: Disturbing the Foraging Behavior of Gnathonemus petersii:
Laila Bryant
The weakly electric fish Gnathonemus petersii uses a pulse-type EOD to
electrolocate and search for food at night. By establishing a feeding
routine, I was able to introduce different perturbations of the
environment of the fish and evaluate whether they affected the foraging
behavior of G. petersii. This study was focused on how these fish use
their EOD as a means of locating food, and how electrical noise
designed to block the fish’s own electric pulse affects behavior
and foraging success. The fish’s environment was disturbed by
many things, including the experimenter, the carbon rods which were
used to input the noise, as well as the electric noise itself. The main
element which would improve the fishes ability to deal with the stress
of these things is time to acclimate to them, which, unfortunately, was
not available in this study.
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Diving Mallards
Evan Bremer
Several species of ducks dive to obtain food or escape predators, the
local species being bufflehead ducks, lesser scaups, and ruddy
ducks. They are physiologically adapted to the behavior, being
able to express a significant amount of air from their bodies and
feathers immediately before diving and recover it upon surfacing.
Their body shape is also streamlined for optimal movement
underwater. It is surprising, then, that some mallards, a species
that lacks the ability to change the amount of air they carry, and have
a body design optimized for movement at the water's surface, have
learned to dive. From observations, one can conclude that they
are not very good at it. So how did they learn? I assumed that
the circumstances under which they dive most are the circumstances
under which they learned, and observed them with attention to their
diving when they were given food by humans and when given no
handouts. Data collection at this time is not complete and
conditions are not ideal, but thus far it looks as if they learned to
dive after food thrown to them by humans.
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Analyzing Behavior in Captive Cougars
R. Bond and P. Guzman
A vast amount of research has been conducted on the hunting behaviors
of wild cougars, while little to no research has been conducted on
captive cougars. The purpose of this project was to determine the
behaviors of two captive cougars at the Portland Zoo. In order to
observe cougars an ethogram was developed containing eight
behaviors. This would allow the cougars’ behavior to be
quantified and more easily analyzed. The cougars were observed
for seven and a half hours over three separate days. The
experiment resulted in the knowledge that captive cougars spend the
majority of the day resting, observing, and walking. By comparing
each cougar’s overall behavior pattern it was concluded that
there was a substantial difference in behavior between the two.
By contrasting each day of observation the combined cougars behavior
appear to vary by day. A comparison of the two observers shows
that the data was not seriously affected by observer variation.
The information that this study provided has many uses for future
research. With field research a comparison of wild and captive
behaviors can be made. The research we have completed can also be
applied to analyze the effectiveness of the animal enrichment program
at the zoo.
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Take to the Trees: Patterns in Sciurus carolinensis Behavior.
K.C. Regmi, E.A. Meloche-Justusson
Although squirrels are known to have bimodal daily activity patterns,
the number of squirrels present at various times on Reed College campus
did not appear to simply depend on time of day based on informal
observation. For this reason, it was hypothesized that weather or
temperature may also play a role in squirrel activity. Squirrels were
observed by scan sampling in two locations over a three-week period.
Temperature, weather, and time of day were noted for each sample.
Behaviors were also recorded to determine whether the types of behavior
are correlated with any of these variables. Results varied between the
two locations. The number of squirrels seen in a day was found to have
only time-dependence in one location. In the other location, nothing
had a significant effect on squirrel number, although this difference
could be due to a non-linear distribution; in the group with no
significant time-of-day effect, it appeared that there were fewer
squirrels in both early morning and late afternoon. The number of
squirrels was not significantly correlated with weather or temperature.
In both locations, the proportion of time spent eating significantly
increased as it got later in the season, even accounting for
temperature differences. One possible explanation is that changing nut
availability has an effect on behavior. Future experiments could
explore the effect of nut supply by seeing if the density of nuts
remaining on the ground has a significant effect on behavior type. poster.pdf
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Social Behaviors of Captive Fruit Bat Species
Jacob Schwartzman, Jamie McNellis
We developed an ethogram to describe and examine the social
interactions of three species of fruit bats at the Oregon Zoo.
The enriched zoo exhibit includes a majority breeding population of
Straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum), eight male Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), and a nonbreeding population of Rodrigues flying foxes (Pteropus rodricensis).
While the Egyptian and Straw-colored bats are morphologically similar
and have overlapping habitats (sub-Saharan Africa), the Rodrigues bats
are an endangered species native to Rodrigues Island near Madagascar,
and were imported as part of a conservation program. We therefore
hypothesized that there should be detectable differences in
interspecies behavior in the exhibit. We observed that most
interactions were either inspection (sniffing) or aggressive behaviors
such as “wing boxing” or grappling. Though the
exhibit provides a convenient arena in which to track individual bats,
our analysis was hampered by the rapidity of interactions and the
difficulty of determining species and/or sex of the target of an
individual’s behavior. Despite this, we have identified
significant differences in the behavioral patterns of species and sex.
poster.pdf
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Now there’s no excuse for bad behavior: Dogs do not find training more stressful than play.
A Mahan
Domesticated dogs have long been known to derive pleasure from human
contact. A decrease in stress, as measured by cortisol
concentrations, has been shown to occur when humans interact with dogs
during play. This work sought to characterize how stress
induction changes when dogs interact with humans in a more structured
way, as during training. Eighteen dogs were used in this study,
with thirty-seven samples collected. Approximately half of the
test dogs were exposed to twenty minutes of play, while the other half
had twenty minutes of training. Saliva samples were taken before
and after the human interaction and these were used to determine
cortisol concentrations by ELISA.
It was hypothesized that there was no significant difference in stress
induction when dogs were exposed to either type of human contact.
Analysis of the results shows that there is no significant difference
between the change in stress levels during play or training. This
surprising result suggests that despite owners’ suspicions, dogs,
on average, do not find training to be stressful. This may be due
to artificial selection pressures that humans create when breeding dogs
for obedience and temperament.
As an additional parameter for investigation, half of the dogs tested
were service animals in training with Guide Dogs for the Blind,
Inc. These animals showed no significant difference in stress
induction, though they varied more on average in their stress levels.
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Fire-bellied toads are ambidextrous
Juliana M. Arrighi and Mikella Procopio
Laterality, or handedness, has been shown in several frog species in
both tadpoles and etamorphosed individuals and is probably
related to asymmetries in development. Most species displaying
this behavior have a single lateral spiracle. To our knowledge,
only one other study has examined Bombina orientalis, which have double
spiracles, for laterality. We obtained offspring from wild caught
B. orientalis and raised them at a constant temperature of 23 C.
Recently metamorphosed Bombina orientalis frogs were presented with a
threat stimulus from either the front or back by one of two
experimenters. The frogs' locomotory responses were scored for
direction (right, left or none), angle, and distance. While we
found no evidence of laterality in B. orientalis, stimulus direction
and experimenter had an effect on whether or not the frog turned.
When stimulated from behind, frogs tended not to exhibit a directional
response, while those presented with stimulus from the front almost
always exhibited directional response.
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THE LONELY TADPOLE: A STUDY OF KIN RECOGNITION IN Xenopus laevis
Natalie C. Vizcarra and C. A. Mingoya
Kin recognition systems in developing animals serve a wide range of
protective purposes. Recognition and differentiation of ones own
species, offspring and birth clutch serve an important role in
facilitating appropriate parental care and successfully directing
attempts at mating and competitive or protective aggression. The
existence of larval kin recognition has been shown in many anuran
species; however, specific data sets have yet to be released for
Xenopus laevis. To test aggregation preferences in two unrelated
sibling groups of Xenopus laevis tadpoles, a simple Y-tube arena made
of transparent plastics was used to test the hypothesis that when
frightened, tadpoles prefer to aggregate with their kin. Four trials
with N=20 were done to establish a control for tadpole preference
between a sibling laden or empty tank. Two subsequent experiments were
performed to test for tadpole density preference and preference for
sibling over non-sibling. All results were statistically shown to be
insignificant as the tadpoles failed to show any preference. Further
analysis of the data to determine a potential tank side preference was
also insignificant. Further experimentation must occur in order to make
significant conclusions about preferential aggregation in Xenopus
laevis tadpoles. poster.pdf
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Honky-tonk: The Role of Communication in Canada Geese
Lacy Lackey and Georgia Kirkpatrick
In our project, we were interested in how and why Canada Geese use
calls, or "honks". We observed geese in the Crystal Springs
Rhododendron Garden to determine the associations between behavior,
group dynamics, and vocalizations. In addition to scan
samplings, we also took audio recordings with a Marantz portable
cassette recorder PMD222 (and a big fancy microphone), and later
analyzed the recordings to assess the frequency and characteristics of
calls. Correlating this information revealed that Canada Geese
use calls in situations such as group movement, aggression, reunion of
group members, and flight. Calls also had specific
characteristics in each situation. These distinguishing
characteristics included relative change in frequency of calls with
behavior. In literature that we read chracterizing other forms of
goose calls, this measurement was not used.
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