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Item Underwater acoustic propagation modeling and utilization for marine hydrokinetic devices(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2024) Hafla, Erin Christine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Erick JohnsonOver the last two decades, there has been growing concern surrounding the increase in underwater anthropogenic sounds as expanding human populations interact with marine life and look for alternative energy production methods. That concern has led to a significant push worldwide to understand how propagated sound interacts with the surrounding marine environment. Marine hydrokinetic (MHK) devices are an alternative source of renewable energy available, which generate electricity from the motion of tidal and ocean currents, as well as ocean waves. Sounds produced by MHKs tend to overlap the frequency range common to both marine fauna communication and behavior. Preliminary measurements indicate that sound level values fall near the total sound decibel limitations presented by regulatory bodies. To date, the power optimization of MHK arrays has been prioritized over how its sound is produced, directed, and may impact the marine soundscape. There is a gap in knowledge regarding how marine fauna may respond to these sounds and what their physical and behavioral impact may be, and an absence in measured levels from insitu MHK deployments. A model for predicting the propagation of sound from an array of MHK sources in a real environment is essential for understanding potential impacts on a surrounding system. This work presents a fully three-dimensional solution to a set of coupled, linearized velocity-pressure equations in the time-domain as applied to underwater systems, and is an alternative sound propagation model to the Helmholtz and wave equation methods. The model is validated for a single source located within a series of increasingly complex two-dimensional and three-dimensional shallow water environments and compared against analytical solutions, examples from literature, and recorded sound pressure levels collected from Sequim Bay, WA. An uncertainty analysis for an array of MHK devices is presented to further understand how multiple turbine signals interact with one another in increasingly complex systems. This research presents a novel use of the velocity-pressure equations to analyze the variability associated with sound sources as sound propagates through a selected environment to inform the design and deployment of a MHK device or array of devices to minimize potential future impacts.Item Movement ecology of female sage-grouse informs space use, resource selection, and demography in southern Valley County, MT(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2023) Haynam, Robert Thomas, III; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Lance McNew; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a focal species in the effort to conserve imperiled sagebrush ecosystems and associated organisms. Sage-grouse uses of landscapes are modulated by their multilevel movement processes. Understanding the relative contributions of hard-wired and environmental influences on movement processes is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of sage-grouse ecology. Correlates between fitness components and measurable landscape conditions may be of limited value if other influences such as sage-grouse movement and behavior are not accounted for. Movement behaviors may be risky in certain contexts and adaptive in other contexts, and differences in the characteristics of movement and therefore space-use among individuals can have implications for survival and reproductive performance. We collected detailed records of sage-grouse movements for up to 4 years per individual to investigate daily behavioral strategies of sage-grouse and therefore mechanisms driving habitat use and individual performance. During April-May, 2018-2019, we captured 86 (45 in 2018, 41 in 2019) female sage-grouse and outfitted them with GPS transmitters. We collected 192,640 geographic coordinates of 86 female sage-grouse during 2018-04-24 - 2022-04-14 which encompassed 4 complete annual cycles of sage-grouse. We confirmed 185 nest attempts of 76 individuals during the nesting seasons of 2018-2021. Hard-wired or learned seasonal behavior modes appeared to be more influential than vegetation conditions. Sage-grouse can exhibit reactive responses to landscape conditions but also use the landscape as a function of high-level endogenous constraints likely due to memory mechanisms, high temporal predictability of some resources, and moderate spatial heterogeneity of resources. Management prescriptions may ignore important ecological levels such as those responsible for learned-heuristic movement and space use modes. Relationship and magnitude of associations among sage-grouse use-intensity and landscape conditions varied among 7 behavior modes which indicates that behavioral and temporal context is important for understanding habitat and space use by sage-grouse. Our findings also support a fundamental demographic importance of area affinity, fidelity, and familiarity to sage-grouse ecology which has been overlooked in most research on sage-grouse or other birds.Item Behavioral and physiological encoding of value and validity in the visual cortex of the macaque(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2021) Thuen, Adam James; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Jamie Mazer and Dominique ZossoSpatial attention and reward research in most humans and all animal models have inherent value and validity associated with task-relevant stimuli. To date, these variables have been investigation in isolation. Assumptions are made with the respect to the dissociability of value and validity effects on task performance and neural activity. Using a novel behavioral task, we varied value and validity within the same experiment in attempt to dissociate their effects on visual processing. Our results indicate that the assumption of dissociability between value and validity effects used to characterize attention and reward modulations is not a safe one to make. Researchers must consider complex interactions between these two variable quantities when investigating attention using incentives and while investigating incentive effects when attention is freely deployable.Item Corn versus barley in beef cattle finishing diets: effect on steer performance, feeding behavior, and ruminal environment(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2021) DelCurto-Wyffels, Hannah Margaret; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Megan Van Emon; Julia M. Dafoe, Cory T. Parsons, Darrin L. Boss, Timothy DelCurto, Samuel A. Wyffels, Megan L. Van Emon and Janice G. P. Bowman were co-authors of the article, 'Corn versus barley in finishing diets: effect on steer performance and feeding behavior' in the journal 'Animals' which is contained within this dissertation.; Julia M. Dafoe, Cory T. Parsons, Darrin L. Boss, Timothy DelCurto, Samuel A. Wyffels, Megan L. Van Emon and Janice G. P. Bowman were co-authors of the article, 'The influence of environmental conditions on intake behavior and activity by feedlot steers fed corn or barley-based diets' in the journal 'Animals' which is contained within this dissertation.; Hannah M. DelCurto-Wyffels, Julia M. Dafoe, Cory T. Parsons, Darrin L. Boss, Timothy DelCurto, Samuel A. Wyffels, Megan L. Van Emon and Janice G. P. Bowman were co-authors of the article, 'Diurnal ruminal pH and temperature patterns of steers fed corn or barley-based finishing diets' in the journal 'Animals' which is contained within this dissertation.While corn is the most common feed ingredient in the United States, barley, which is more suitable for the growing and climatic conditions at northern latitudes, can be a common feed alternative to corn. The different digestive utilization of unique feedstuffs coupled with extreme environmental conditions can pose challenges to efficiently feeding cattle in different climates. Thus, to further our understanding of the use of barley in feedlot diets at northern latitudes this study evaluated the effects of barley and corn finishing rations on feedlot performance, feeding behavior, and ruminal environment. For two consecutive years, Angus-based yearling steer calves were fed in a feedlot trial (427.3 + or - 3.7 kg; n = 48 in year 1, and 406.8 + or - 3.4 kg; n = 47 in year 2). Steers were randomly assigned to one of two primary basal grain dietary treatments: 1) Number 2 feed corn or 2) Hockett barley. Steers were fed in a GrowSafe system to measure individual animal intake and behavior throughout the duration of the study. Twelve steers per treatment group for each year of the study were also fitted with a HOBO pendent G accelerometer to measure activity and a SmaXtec ruminal bolus for continuous rumen monitoring of temperature and pH. Limited differences were observed in regard to performance and eating behavior of steers fed corn or barley-based diets. The steer's diet interacted with short term environmental changes to influence animal feeding behavior, but diet had limited impact on cattle lying activity. Continuous ruminal monitoring revealed average daily ruminal pH and temperature were not impacted by diet; however, diet did affect daily variation in ruminal pH and temperature. Intake patterns were also different between corn and barley-fed steers in which corn-fed steers consumed more feed the first 6 hours directly after feeding while barley-fed steers consumed more feed later in the day. Presumably, these intake patterns could be influenced by differences in diurnal patterns of ruminal pH between corn and barley. Depending on cost and production year, both barley and corn can be high quality feedstuffs to use in beef cattle finishing rations.Item Out-migration dynamics of juvenile adfluvial bull trout in tributaries to the lower Clark Fork River, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Lewis, Madeline Collier; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Christopher S. Guy; Christopher S. Guy, Eric W. Oldenburg and Thomas E. McMahon were co-authors of the article, 'Demographic characteristics and distribution of juvenile adfluvial bull trout at the tributary scale' submitted to the journal 'Transactions of the American Fisheries Society' which is contained within this thesis.; Christopher S. Guy, Eric W. Oldenburg and Thomas E. McMahon were co-authors of the article, 'Seasonal capture efficiencies influences knowledge of underlying out-migration dynamics in bull trout populations with juvenile downstream trap-and-haul programs' submitted to the journal 'North American journal of fisheries management' which is contained within this thesis.; Christopher S. Guy, Eric W. Oldenburg and Thomas E. McMahon were co-authors of the article, 'Individual characteristics and abiotic factors influence outmigration dynamics of juvenile bull trout' submitted to the journal 'Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences' which is contained within this thesis.In the lower Clark Fork River, Montana, a two-way trap-and-haul program is implemented to conserve the adfluvial life-history strategy in Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus populations in the presence of hydropower dams. We used the infrastructure in place for the program, including a permanent weir trap and multiple stationary PIT antennas, to evaluate the demographic characteristics and out-migration dynamics of juvenile bull trout, and assess the efficacy of the downstream trapping component of the trap-and-haul program. We PIT-tagged 821 juvenile Bull Trout in Graves Creek, and 144 Bull Trout in East Fork Bull River in the summer of 2019 and summer of 2020. Bull Trout in Graves Creek were primarily age 1 and age 2, with a small number of age-3 Bull Trout present (< 1%). In East Fork Bull River, age-3 Bull Trout represented 14% - 46% of the population, with a small number of age-4 and older Bull Trout present (4% - 6%). From July 2019 through December 2020, 308 tagged Bull Trout outmigrated from Graves Creek, and most out-migrants were age 2 (n = 221). In East Fork Bull River, 18 Bull Trout out-migrated, and most out-migrants were age 3 (n = 13). Capture efficiency of the permanent weir in Graves Creek varied from 83% to 100% in autumn 2019 and 2020 and was substantially lower in the spring (14%). The majority of Bull Trout out-migrated from Graves Creek during autumn 2019, spring 2020, or autumn 2020 trapping seasons (n = 276). In Graves Creek, the largest Bull Trout within the 2018 year-class were five times more likely to out-migrate at age 1 when compared to smaller fish within the cohort. The magnitude of age-1 out-migration was positively related to density. Relative changes in abiotic factors, including discharge, water temperature, and photoperiod, were cues to out-migration, and the direction of change varied by season. Understanding the demographic characteristics and outmigration dynamics of the Bull Trout in Graves Creek and East Fork Bull River enables more informed management of the trap-and-haul program and can be used to inform conservation efforts of other migratory Bull Trout populations.Item Investigating diverse sources of variation in the amount of time Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) pups spend in the water during the lactation period(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Petch, Shane Morgan; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jay J. RotellaThe early-developmental period can have important consequences for offspring success later in life. Phenotypic differences among parents and offspring influence energy availability as well as patterns of allocation and trade-offs during development. Variation in behavioral development prior to weaning may be an important determinant of post-weaning success. Here, we use hierarchical Bayesian models and a long-term database of phenotypic characteristics to investigate sources of variation in total time spent in the water and age at first entry in Weddell seal pups from 11-30 days of age. We found that time in the water was greater for pups with higher birth mass, greater for female than for male pups, lower for pups first entering the water at older ages, had a quadratic relationship with maternal age that peaked at intermediate maternal ages, and was higher for pups born to mothers who skipped reproduction the previous year than those born to mothers that were pre-breeders or reproduced the previous year. Some mothers consistently gave birth to pups that spent more time in the water. Age at first entry was earliest for pups with higher birth mass born to mothers with above average reproductive experience. Maternal identity accounted for slight variation in age at first entry. We document that the first entry can occur as early as 4 days old, but on average occurs at age 14 days. Pups born heavier may have more stored energy to allocate to activity or mitigate costs of submergence. Male pups may spend less time in the water to compensate for higher developmental costs. We found support for proxies of maternal body condition but not maternal behavior in describing time in the water, although maternal reproductive experience was supported in our analysis of age at first entry. Our results indicate that some variation in time spent in the water can be explained by the phenotypic characteristics of mothers and pups, though unaccounted-for sources of variation could be involved. It would be useful if future studies would investigate additional sources of variation and seek to understand how time spent in the water is related to post-weaning outcomes.Item A system to eavesdrop on marmosets(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2015) Casebeer, Christopher Ness; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ross K. SniderThis masters thesis describes developing a custom digital recording system to record the vocalizations and behavior of marmosets, which are small primates native to the northeast of Brazil. Animal behavior scientists have traditionally studied communications between only a 'sender' and a 'receiver'. Animal communications however are hypothesized to occur in communication networks involving more than just a pair of animals. In this project a miniaturized recording system aimed at acquiring data to study the communication networks of the common marmoset is underway. The acoustic recording collar project aims to develop a wearable recording embedded platform for a freely behaving primate. A custom embedded platform utilizing a field programmable gate array (FPGA) has been developed to prototype the system. A hardware description language (HDL) has been used to create the FPGA architecture for the collar application, which in this case is the VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL). Sensors used and developed for this application include a global positioning system (GPS), inertial measurement unit (IMU), and digital MEMS microphone. These sensors provide position and accurate time information, behaviorally related motion information, and the acoustic environment of the marmoset. This data comprises the Behavioral Acoustic Biome of the marmoset. Storage of the behavioral acoustic biome data occurs on a local microSD ash memory card. A printed circuit board of footprint 1.36 by 1.18 inches has been completed and the system will be soon fitted to a 3D printed collar wearable by the marmoset. Demonstration of sensor data logging to the microSD ash has been completed. Other developments of the embedded system are ongoing. Ultimately, fitting multiple wearable devices across a troop of freely behaving marmosets will allow novel studies of communication networks in the common marmoset to be undertaken.Item Getting naughty with nature : 'R-rated' wildlife film(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2015) Collins, Kevin Michael; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Lucia RicciardelliUnlike most genres of film and television, which feature a wide spectrum of content maturity, wildlife programs are generally family-friendly, rarely venturing into 'R-rated' territory. Perhaps owing to the genre's longstanding association with science and academia, as well as network regulations and censorship, wildlife programs typically eschew profanity, gratuitous gore, and overt sexuality - particularly of a human nature. In recent years, the Internet has permitted a profusion of 'R-rated' wildlife series. Three of the more virally successful 'R-rated' wildlife series available on YouTube include True Facts by Ze Frank, Green Porno starring Isabella Rossellini, and Wild Sex starring Dr. Carin Bondar. Inspired by the popularity and critical acclaim of these series, I have produced the first episode of my own 'R-rated' wildlife series, InSex Episode 1: 'Luminescent Lovers.' In this paper, I explore the creative merits of True Facts' humorously incongruous narration, Green Porno's richly symbolic animal costumes, and Wild Sex's clever analogies between human and animal behaviors. I then discuss how I integrated some of these series' best qualities into 'Luminescent Lovers.' I argue that the 'R-rated' approach, brimming with compelling humanity, can make scientific concepts more fun, relatable, and accessible, facilitating the assimilation of knowledge and attracting viewers who might otherwise shun wildlife media.Item Relationship between current temperament measures and physiological responses to handling of feedlot cattle(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2015) Williams, Andrew Fillmore; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jane A. BolesTemperament in beef cattle has become a research focus due to increasing consumer awareness of animal welfare. Researchers have defined temperament as behavioral responses to a perceived stressful event. "Fight-or-Flight" response is influenced by environmental and genetic factors including age, sex, and breed. Subjective chute scoring systems have been used by many researchers. Due to the subjectivity and associated variability among observers, chute scores have been questioned for repeatability and consistency. An alternative measurement currently used, is exit velocity or speed at which an animal exits a chute, and is recognized as the most practical objective measure for assessing temperament. Physiological markers used to evaluate temperament are increased blood cortisol and lactate concentrations. The first objective of this study was to compare temperament differences between feedlot steers and heifers. The second objective was to evaluate physiological measures taken chute side as potential markers for defining an animal's temperament and potential predictor. Pulse, oxygen saturation, rectal temperature, blood lactate, blood glucose and lactate concentrations, salivary cortisol, and serum cortisol were measured on mixed breed and sex feedlot cattle (n = 197), significant difference alpha = P< 0.05 . Exit velocities were used to classify animals as fast, medium, and slow, plasma lactate was significantly different between all classes. Exit velocity and physiological measures differed between sex. Heifers had higher exit velocities (P = 0.003), plasma lactate concentrations (p = 0.03), and cortisol concentrations (P = 0.001). Simple correlations among these variables showed rectal temperature (heifers r = 0.44, P <0.0001; steers 0.45 P < .0001), plasma lactate (heifers r = 0.52 P < 0.0001; steers r = 0.63 P < 0.0001), serum lactate (heifers r = 0.53 P < 0.001; steers r = 0.59 P < 0.001) and glucose (heifers r = 0.54 P < 0.001; steers r = 0.32 P <0.003) were all correlated to exit velocity in both sexes. Cortisol measures were not correlated to exit velocity in steers but were in heifers. Linear models were constructed and evaluated using Akaike information criterion, the top candidate model was plasma lactate in combination with body temperature to predict exit velocity.Item Temporal concentrations of cortisol and LH in virgin ewes acutely exposed to rams during the transition into the breeding season(2015-03) McCosh, Richard B.; Berry, E. M.; Wehrman, M. E.; Redden, R. R.; Hallford, D. M.; Berardinelli, James G.The objectives of this study were to determine if exposing seasonally anovular ewes to rams would alter patterns of cortisol concentrations, and if these changes are associated with changes in characteristics of LH concentrations. Seasonally anestrous ewes were assigned to be exposed to rams (RE; n = 11) or wethers (NE; n = 12). Blood samples were collected at 15-min intervals beginning 120 min before introduction of males (time = 0 min), and continued for 360 min after male exposure. Characteristics of cortisol and LH concentrations included: mean and baseline concentrations, pulse amplitude, duration, frequency, and time to first pulse. Mean and baseline cortisol concentrations, and cortisol pulse amplitude, frequency, and time to first pulse after male exposure did not differ between RE and NE ewes. Cortisol pulse duration was longer (P < 0.05) in RE ewes than in NE ewes. Mean LH and LH pulse amplitude, duration, and time to first pulse after male exposure did not differ between RE and NE ewes. Baseline LH concentrations and LH pulse frequency were greater (P < 0.05) in RE than in NE ewes. In RE ewes, but not NE ewes, LH pulse frequency tended to increase (P = 0.06) as pulse frequency of cortisol decreased. In conclusion, exposing ewes to mature rams during the transition into the breeding season increased LH pulse frequency which hastened ovulatory activity. However, the results do not support the hypothesis that changes in cortisol concentrations plays a significant role in the ‘ram effect’.