More robust cattle have the potential to increase farm profitability, improve animal welfare, reduce the contribution of ruminant livestock to greenhouse gas emissions and decrease the risk of food shortages in the face of increased variability in the farm environment. Breeding is a powerful tool for changing the robustness of cattle; however, insufficient recording of breeding goal traits and ...

Mitigation to offset the impacts of land development is becoming increasingly common, with reintroductions and created habitat programs used as key actions. However, numerous reviews cite high rates of poor success from these programs, and a need for improved monitoring and scientific testing to evaluate outcomes and improve management actions. We conducted extensive monitoring of a released po...

This document contains technical details to accompany several papers that employ population modelling of the acquisition of English past tense formation. These simulations are either directly applied to capturing empirical data of children learning the past tense (Thomas, Ronald & Forrester, submitted; Thomas, in preparation), or employ the past tense domain as an abstract learning problem with...

The techniques of artificial insemination, although commonly practiced in domestic animal reproduction, have not been readily applied to zoo animals. Previously reported artificial insemination efforts in nondomestic Felidae have utilized surgical techniques and only recently hag a cub resulted [Moore et al, 1981]. Until the present project, the nonsurgical approach hag been unsuccessful in the...

AIM The objective of this research is to report parameters for breeding soundness evaluation, semen extension, and cryopreservation in Rusa timorensis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven healthy stags were chosen for semen collection using an electroejaculator. The collections were performed twice in a breeding season between February and June 2016. Samples were collected between 2 and 3 weeks inter...

Enforcement mechanisms are thought to be important in maintaining mutualistic cooperation between species. A clear example of an enforcement mechanism is how legumes impose sanctions on rhizobial symbionts that fail to provide sufficient fixed N2. However, with domestication and breeding in high-soil-N environments, humans may have altered these natural legume defences and reduced the agricultu...

and Implications To increase utilization of artificial insemination by beef producers, estrous and ovulation synchronization protocols must be re-evaluated in an attempt to reduce labor, cost, number of handlings, or a combination thereof without negatively impacting pregnancy rates. One potential way to reduce cost in these systems is through the strategic removal of hormones, such as the cont...

As populations around the globe are growing the demand for pork protein in the human diet is increasing. Technologies utilized in 1990s such as artificial insemination have improved our capabilities to produce leaner carcasses. Utilizing superior genetics and breeding techniques as tools to improve growth rates, feed efficiency, and carcass quality is imperative for the swine industry to succes...

Exotic species threaten native biodiversity through predation, competition, and habitat alteration, but also by hybridizing with native species. A lack of reproductive isolation between exotic and native species can lead to genetic swamping, loss of native genetic diversity, and, in rare or endangered species, extirpation or extinction. We examined hybridization between a declining native salam...

The increasing demand for improved agricultural production will require more efficient breeding for traits that maintain yield under heterogeneous environments. The internal circadian oscillator is essential for perceiving and coordinating environmental cues such as day length, temperature, and abiotic stress responses within physiological processes. To investigate the contribution of the circa...