Download or read book The Effects of Methoxychlor on the California Vole Microtus Californicus written by Nancy Elizabeth Amundson and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effects of endocrine disrupting substances on wildlife populations present a challenge for wildlife conservation. Toxicology analyses identifying physiological effects in individual animals cannot predict long term and indirect effects on populations and associated biotic communities. In an approach to better elucidate the relationship between responses in individual animals and population level effects, this research project identified physiological and behavioral effects of an estrogenic pesticide, methoxychlor, in a wild rodent species, the California vole, and using computer generated simulations, extrapolated those results into effects on long term vole population dynamics. Methoxychlor is a chlorinated pesticide that is a reproductive toxin in exposed rodents. The California vole, Microtus californicus, is an herbivorous rodent that occurs across a wide range of habitats throughout California. M. californicus is conducive to determining plant structure and composition in the habitats in which it occurs and is important prey species for both diurnal and nocturnal predators. I conducted a multi-generation laboratory study of the effects of methoxychlor, which functions physiologically as an estrogen agonist, on reproduction and behavior in M. californicus. Data generated from the studies was used to construct stage structured matrix population models to examine the potential effects of methoxychlor on M. californicus population dynamics under varying exposure scenarios. The physiological effects of methoxychlor on reproductive parameters varied depending on the exposure route and dose. Through both direct and in utero/lactation exposure, the lowest dose of methoxychlor significantly stimulated productivity relative to controls, while essentially inhibiting reproduction at a higher dose. This type of non-monotonic dose response is consistent with reported physiological effects of exposure to endocrine disrupting substances and indicates that linear, low-dose extrapolations for these substances are not appropriate for all species. Methoxychlor exposure also resulted in a highly skewed sex ratio in the non-exposed offspring of F1 generation voles that were exposed in utero and through weaning only. A long term alteration in metabolism of the F1 generation is postulated as a possible mechanism for the effect on the offspring sex ratio. Behavioral analyses of methoxychlor exposure were conducted on three hormone-mediated behaviors: activity levels, parenting behavior, and aggression, measured as running wheel activity, infanticide, and territoriality, respectively. The effects on behavior were consistent with exposure to estrogen. Methoxychlor significantly increased running wheel activity by in utero/lactation exposed female M. californicus when tested as adults. This result indicates that methoxychlor or its metabolites caused a permanent disruption to the CNS with respect to estrogen metabolism. Infanticide was significantly reduced in both parental adult dosed dams and by F1 in utero/lactation-exposed male/female pairs. The parental reduction in infanticide is postulated to be due to methoxychlor binding to estrogen receptors in the brain of the adult dams, whereas the long term effect on the F1 generation is suggestive of a permanent, epigenetic alteration. Territorial behavior/aggression of F1 in utero/lactation-exposed males tested as adults did not differ significantly between treated and control voles. Disruptions to activity levels and hormonally-mediated behaviors that regulate the social systems of Microtus spp. could alter the demographics of the population as well as impact long term population dynamics. The modeled population trajectories demonstrated that methoxychlor exposure could result in adverse impacts to long term vole population dynamics in natural habitats. The simulations identified increased population variability, calculated as the range of variation in abundance, associated with increased fecundity, which occurred in the methoxychlor-exposed populations. Fecundity input values were increased as a result of two distinct mechanisms: (1) reduced infanticide, which increased survival and (2) reduced (female-skewed) sex ratio. Maximum population variability occurred when the effect of increased activity level, which also was associated with methoxychlor exposure, was incorporated into the models. Variation in the standard deviation of the carrying capacity resulted in population extinctions for exposed populations, indicating that exposed populations could be vulnerable to local extinction as a result of increased environmental stochasticity. The results of my research indicate that the reproductive and behavioral effects of estrogenic substances like methoxychlor could result in significant negative impacts on vole population dynamics in natural habitats. These studies have demonstrated that multiple approaches, including multigenerational, behavioral, and population level analyses, provide useful insights for the identification of potential population level effects in wild species. Due to the importance of voles in the habitats in which they occur, alterations to vole population dynamics could have indirect effects on the productivity and stability of the associated ecological communities.
Download or read book Ecological Effects of Pesticides on Non target Species written by David Pimentel and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Handbook of Ecotoxicology Second Edition written by David J. Hoffman and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2002-11-13 with total page 1312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Ecotoxicology, Second Edition focuses on toxic substances and how they affect ecosystems worldwide. It presents methods for quantifying and measuring ecotoxicological effects in the field and in the lab, as well as methods for estimating, predicting, and modeling in ecotoxicology studies. Completely revised and updated with 18 new chapters, this second edition includes contributions from over 75 international experts. Also, a Technical Review Board reviewed all manuscripts for accuracy and currency. This authoritative work is the definitive reference for students, researchers, consultants, and other professionals in the environmental sciences, toxicology, chemistry, biology, and ecology - in academia, industry, and government.
Download or read book Bibliography of Agriculture written by and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 1216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Wildlife Techniques Manual written by Nova J. Silvy and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2012-03 with total page 1133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A standard text in a variety of courses, the Techniques Manual, as it is commonly called, covers every aspect of modern wildlife management and provides practical information for applying the hundreds of methods described in its pages. To effectively incorporate the explosion of new information in the wildlife profession, this latest edition is logically organized into a two-volume set: Volume 1 is devoted to research techniques and Volume 2 focuses on management methodologies.
Download or read book Sex and Behavior written by Frank Ambrose Beach and published by Krieger Publishing Company. This book was released on 1974 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Current Perspectives on Sexual Selection written by Thierry Hoquet and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This root-and-branch re-evaluation of Darwin’s concept of sexual selection tackles the subject from historical, epistemological and theoretical perspectives. Contributions from a wealth of disciplines have been marshaled for this volume, with key figures in behavioural ecology, philosophy, and the history of science adding to its wide-ranging relevance. Updating the reader on the debate currently live in behavioural ecology itself on the centrality of sexual selection, and with coverage of developments in the field of animal aesthetics, the book details the current state of play, while other chapters trace the history of sexual selection from Darwin to today and inquire into the neurobiological bases for partner choices and the comparisons between the hedonic brain in human and non-human animals. Welcome space is given to the social aspects of sexual selection, particularly where Darwin drew distinctions between eager males and coy females and rationalized this as evolutionary strategy. Also explored are the current definition of sexual selection (as opposed to natural selection) and its importance in today’s biological research, and the impending critique of the theory from the nascent field of animal aesthetics. As a comprehensive assessment of the current health, or otherwise, of Darwin’s theory, 140 years after the publication of his Descent of Man, the book offers a uniquely rounded view that asks whether ‘sexual selection’ is in itself a progressive or reactionary notion, even as it explores its theoretical relevance in the technical biological study of the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Bibliography of Agriculture written by and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 718 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Miscellaneous Invertebrates written by Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2018-12-03 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of the Handbook of Zoology summarizes "small" groups of animals across the animal kingdom. Dicyemida and Orthonectida are enigmatic parasites, formerly united as "Mesozoa" and their position among the multicellular animals is still not known with certainty. Placozoa are small, flat marine animals which provide important information on metazoan evolution. Comb jellies (Ctenophora) are esthetically fascinating animals which cause considerable discussion about their phylogenetic position. Seisonida are closely related to rotifers and acanthocephalans. Cycliophora were discovered and described as one of the last higher taxa and surprise by their complex life cycle. Kamptozoa (= Entoprocta) are small sessile animals in the sea and sometimes also in freshwater. Arrow worms (Chaetognatha) play an important role as predators in the plankton, but they also include benthic forms. Pterobranchia and acorn worms (Enteropneusta) belong to the deuterostomia and are related to echinoderms. In particular enteropneusts play an important role in understanding deuterostome evolution. These chapters provide up to date reviews of these exiting groups with reference to the important literature and therefore serves as an important source of information.
Download or read book Behavioral Toxicology written by Bernard Weiss and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behavioral toxicology is a young discipline in the United States; so young, in fact, that this is one of its first books. Behavioral questions are bound to play a major role in future scientific work and governmental decisions involving the health effects of environmental contaminants and other chemicals. This role springs from two key problems that face scientists and public agencies required to set acceptable exposure standards or to determine criteria for the toxicity of therapeutic chemicals: How do you evaluate effects that may show up only as subtle functional disturbances? And how do you de tect toxic effects early enough so that they may still be reversible, before they produce major damage? The contributions in this book come from a collection of scientists whose interests span a wide variety of problem areas. The focus is largely on me thodological issues because they represent the most immediate concern of the discipline. We expect that this collection of papers will represent a useful source book for behavioral toxicology for some time. For the past few years, the University of Rochester's Department of Radiation Biology and Biophysics has sponsored a series of international conferences on chemical toxicity, partly as a response to concern over the con sequences to health of the rich chemical soup in which we live. This book is based upon presentations made to the fifth of the series. Held in June, 1972, it was the first formal meeting devoted to behavioral toxicology in this country.
Download or read book Endocrine Disruptors Brain and Behavior written by Heather B. Patisaul and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-10 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our world and bodies are becoming increasingly polluted with chemicals capable of interfering with our hormones and thus, possibly, our present and future neural and mental health. As authors Heather Patisaul and Scott Belcher outline, there is a large lack of data and evidence in this causal relationship, which begs a need for further study to accelerate progress in the endocrinology and neuroendocrinology fields. Endocrine Disruptors, Brain, and Behavior focuses on if and how these chemicals, known as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), affect the development and function of the brain and might be contributing to neural disorders rapidly rising in prevalence. The book provides an overall synthesis of the EDC field, including its historical roots, major hypotheses, key findings, and research gaps. The authors explain why even the concept of endocrine disruption is controversial in some circles, how differing definitions of endocrine disruption and what constitutes an "adverse" outcome on the brain shape public policy, and where the current capacity by different stakeholders (industry, academia, regulatory agencies) to evaluate chemicals for safety in a regulatory context begins and ends. The book concludes with suggestions for future research needs and a summary of emerging technology which might prove capable of more effectively evaluating existing and emerging chemicals for endocrine disrupting properties. As such, it provides the context for interdisciplinary and innovative input from a broad spectrum of fields, including those well-schooled in neuroscience, evolutionary biology, brain, behavior, sex differences, and neuroendocrinology.
Download or read book Losing Our Minds written by Barbara Demeneix and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The exponential increases in neurodevelopmental disorders implicate both genetic causes and environmental factors. Flame-retardants, pesticides, plasticizers, and other every-day products contain chemicals shown to affect thyroid hormone signaling, which if disrupted can result in significant impairment to IQ. Across entire populations, such effects spell large-scale social and economic consequences. In this book Barbara Demeneix suggests what can and must be done to halt and reverse this disturbing trend.
Download or read book Behavior and Neurology of Lizards written by Neil Greenberg and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Chemical Signals written by D. Muller-Schwarze and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research on chemical communication in animals is in a very active and exciting phase; more species are studied, data are accumulating, concepts are changing, and practical application seems feasible. While most of the work on chemical ecology and chemical sig nals deals with insects, vertebrate communication provides a formidable challenge and progress has been slow. Joint efforts and frequent direct contacts of ecologists, behaviorists, psychologists, physiologists, histologists and chemists are required. Such an interdisciplinary exchange of information took place on the occasion of the Symposium on Chemical Signals in Vertebrates and Aquatic Animals in Syracuse, New York, from May 31 to June 2, 1979. More than one hundred investigators from seven countries participated, and the papers presented comprise this volume. Since the first Symposium on Vertebrate Chemical Signals at Saratoga Springs in 1976, considerable progress has been made with field studies, the physiology of the vomeronasal organ, and its role in reproductive behavior. The behavioral functions and chemi cal nature of priming pheromones are better understood. Efforts to isolate and identify mammalian pheromones are gaining ground, and the bioassays are becoming more sophisticated. In addition to formal presentations, one evening of the Symposi um was devoted to round-table discussions of particular topics. The selected themes indicate the "growing points" of chemical communi cation research: priming pheromones, vomeronasal organ, bioassay, and practical applications.
Download or read book Advances in Vasopressin and Oxytocin From Genes to Behaviour to Disease written by Rainer Landgraf and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2008-09-10 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vasopressin and oxytocin are the key hormones of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system, and are well-known to be critically involved in antidiuresis, labor, and milk ejection. This book highlights the latest research on vasopressin and oxytocin, covering multiple biological aspects. The capacity of both hormones to regulate various aspects of social behaviours including pair-bonding, aggression, maternal love, and sexual behaviour, is a main focus, as are their interactions with a variety of other neuromodulators and transmitters. Moreover, the book illustrates the recent development of vasopressin and oxytocin agonists/antagonists as potential drugs to treat not only disturbances of body fluid homeostasis, but also mental disorders, including social phobia, autism, anxiety, and depression. The promising combination of basic and clinical research, comprising physiology, neuroendocrinology, behavioral biology, pharmacology, imaging and molecular genetics makes this book an essential addition to both experts and scientists new to the field alike. Comprehensive review of OXT and AVP physiology and behaviour Each chapter covers a novel aspect of OXT and AVP research and is written by a leading expert Review articles are ideal for experts and newcomers to the field alike Discusses fascinating behavioural effects of oxytocin and vasopressin Summarizes the recent explosion of neuropeptide research, physiology and behaviour, is in one location
Download or read book Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 4 written by David Duvall and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 728 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume reviews recent developments in our understanding of che~ ical signaling in vertebrates. After sections dealing with general princi ples and chemical aspects of vertebrate pheromones, it follows a taxonomic approach, progressing from fish to. mammals. The editors asked a diverse, international group of leading investigators, working on a wide array of vertebrate taxa and specific issues, to consider their efforts from compar ative, evolutionary, and ecological viewpoints. The relative number of manuscripts in each part does not necessarily reflect current intensity of research, since the editors invited speakers who together would provide a balanced and comprehensive overview, while avoiding duplication. Still, the part on mammals is the longest. Fourth in a series dating from 1977, this volume illuminates current trends and likely future developments in the field of chemical signaling in vertebrates. Going back even farther, the first chapter, a personal account of the past quarter century by Dr. Mykytowycz recalls the most important milestones, such as symposia, or the founding of societies and journals. He also credits those investigators who stand out by their seminal studies.
Download or read book Soil Ecotoxicology written by Joseph Tarradellas and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1996-12-23 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soils are receptacles for a wide range of hazardous chemicals generated by human activities. Whether or not this contamination is deliberate, accurate toxicity assessments are important for health and economic reasons. Soil Ecotoxicology discusses the sources, fate, and transport of hazardous chemicals in soils. The fate (biodegradation and modeling) and the potential impacts of pesticides on soil ecosystems are emphasized, and methodologies for performing toxicity assessments are provided.
