An Exploration of the Development of Empathy in a Clinical Sample of Preschoolers in Relation to Child and Family Factors

In the current literature base of social-emotional development in early childhood there exists a paucity of research of empathy development due to the complicated nature of empathy in young children. The present study utilizes a preexisting dataset from a local therapeutic preschool program, and its methods include visual analysis, correlations, and independent samples t-tests. Results of the present study found that clinical behavior patterns negatively correlate with empathy development. Further, statistically significant group differences exist in affective empathy for children whose parents have a mental health diagnosis. However, results regarding adaptive skills were not found to be statistically significant. The present study contributes and expands the current literature base by exploring empathy development among a clinical sample of preschool-age children. The present study is also unique in its incorporation of specific family factors

Dynamics of an Emerging Infectious Disease of Amphibians: From Individuals to Communities

Chytridiomycosis is an infectious disease of amphibians caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), and it has played an important role in the worldwide decline of amphibians. My dissertation research examined the consequences of Bdinfections on tadpole feeding biomechanics and activity, pathogen transmission, and host immunology. The keratinized labial teeth of Bd-infected Fowler\u27s Toad (Anaxyrus [=Bufo] fowleri) and Grey Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) tadpoles slipped off of surfaces on which they grazed and were in contact with an algal-covered surface for a shorter duration of time during each feeding cycle. During feeding trials, Bd-infected A. fowleri and H. versicolor tadpoles obtained significantly less food and were less active during feeding relative to non-infected tadpoles. Collectively, these data show that Bd-infected tadpoles are less efficient and less active while feeding and provide a potential mechanism for reduced growth and development in Bd-infected tadpoles of these species. In artificial ponds, A. fowleri tadpoles raised in the presence of Bd aggregated significantly more relative to controls, whereas H. versicolor aggregated significantly less. In addition, ponds with A. fowleri tadpoles supported higher Bd prevalences and infection intensities relative to ponds with H. versicolor, suggesting that aggregation behavior may impact intraspecific Bd transmission. Independent of species, tadpoles raised in the presence of Bd were smaller and less developed than tadpoles raised in disease-free conditions, even when Bd prevalence was low. Although A. fowleri tadpoles seem more susceptible to Bd and carry heavier infections, our results suggest that Bd can negatively impact larval life history traits associated with fitness. To test possible mechanisms related to differential Bd susceptibility, I raised Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) tadpoles on diets that differed in their protein content. Tadpoles fed a low-protein diet had less effective immune responses (PHA-induced skin-swelling resonse and the ability of tadpole blood to kill E. coli), increased susceptibility to Bd, and were less developed relative to tadpoles fed a high-protein diet. However, the immune responses of tadpoles infected with Bd were similar, suggesting that neither T cell recruitment nor cytotoxicity of tadpole blood (i.e., PHA and bacterial killing ability, respectively) specifically inhibit Bd infections

Designing for Economic Success: A 50-State Analysis of the Genuine Progress Indicator

The use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary measure of economic progress has arguably led to unintended consequences of environmental degradation and socially skewed outcomes. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) was designed to reveal the trade offs associated with conventional economic growth and to assess the broader impact of economic benefits and costs on sustainable human welfare. Although originally designed for use at the national scale, an interest has developed in the United States in a state-level uptake of the GPI to inform and guide policy. However, questions exist about the quality and legitimacy of the GPI as a composite indicator. These questions include concerns about the underlying assumptions, the monetary weights and variables used, statistical rigor, magnitude of data collection required, and lack of a transparent governance mechanism for the metric. This study aims to address these issues and explore the GPI through a design-thinking lens as both a design artifact and intervention. The leading paper in this dissertation offers the first GPI accounting for all 50 U.S. states. State GPI results are introduced and compared to Gross State Product (GSP). Then an analysis of the components to GPI reveals which drive the differences in outcomes, including examining the sustainability aspects of the state-level results. The second paper investigates the quality of the GPI as a composite indicator by testing its sensitivity to numerical assumptions and relative magnitudes of components, with particular attention to the possible unintended policy consequences of the design. The third paper seeks to answer the question of both efficiency (data parsimony) and effectiveness (comparatively to other indicators) by analysis of correlations between GPI components and with other state-level indicators such as the Gallup Well-Being Indicator, Ecological Footprint, and UN Human Development Index. To garner insight about possible GPI improvements, goals, and governance gaps in the informal U.S GPI network, the final paper dives into processes, outputs, and outcomes from the community of practice as revealed through a facilitated U.S. GPI workshop

Does the thermal mismatch hypothesis predict disease outcomes in different morphs of a terrestrial salamander?

Many aspects of ectotherm physiology are temperature‐dependent. The immune system of temperate‐dwelling ectothermic host species is no exception and their immune function is often downregulated in cold temperatures. Likewise, species of ectothermic pathogens experience temperature‐mediated effects on rates of transmission and/or virulence. Although seemingly straightforward, predicting the outcomes of ectothermic host−pathogen interactions is quite challenging. A recent hypothesis termed the thermal mismatch hypothesis posits that cool‐adapted host species should be most susceptible to pathogen infection during warm temperature periods whereas warm‐adapted host species should be most susceptible to pathogens during periods of cool temperatures. We explore this hypothesis using two ecologically and physiologically differentiated color morphs of the Eastern Red‐backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) and a pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis; hereafter Bd ) using a fully factorial laboratory experiment. At cool temperatures, unstriped salamanders (i.e., those that are tolerant of warm temperatures) had a significantly higher probability of Bd infection compared with cool‐tolerant striped salamanders, consistent with the thermal mismatch hypothesis. However, we found no support for this hypothesis when salamanders were exposed to Bd at warm temperatures: the probability of Bd infection in the cool‐tolerant striped salamanders was nearly identical in both cool and warm temperatures, opposite the predictions of the thermal mismatch hypothesis. Our results are most consistent with the fact that Bd grows poorly at warm temperatures. Alternatively, our data could indicate that the two color morphs do not differ in their tolerance to warm temperatures but that striped salamanders are more tolerant to cool temperatures than unstriped salamanders. Research Highlights: In a test of the thermal mismatch hypothesis, we found that in cool temperatures, warm‐tolerant salamanders had higher parasitism compared with cool‐tolerant salamanders. There was no difference in parasitism for salamanders in warm temperatures

Female Salamanders Experience Higher Parasitism Compared to Males: A Cost of Female Reproduction?

Males tend to experience higher rates of parasitism compared to females, a phenomenon associated with ecological factors, the fact that males engage in risky behaviors, and because testosterone is known to be immunosuppressive. However, females could experience higher rates of parasitism if energy is allocated from costly immune responses towards producing eggs. We used pooled data sets from laboratory experiments to investigate sex-specific differences in salamander (Plethodon cinereus) resistance to the emerging fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (‘‘Bd’’). Contrary to our predictions, we found that female salamanders had a higher prevalence of infection (~56%) and carried a higher Bd infection burden (455 zoospores equivalents per sample) compared to male salamanders (which had a Bd infection prevalence of ~24% and an average infection burden of 58 zoospore equivalents per sample). We also found that female reproductive investment (i.e., mass of eggs) positively correlated with Bd infection burden, suggesting that females who previously invested more into reproduction carried a higher Bd infection burden. Collectively, our findings might indicate that female salamanders experience a cost of reproduction in the form of decreased disease resistance

Taking tadpole biology into the 21st century: a consensus paper from the First Tadpoles International Workshop

Although tadpoles are common, frequently encountered vertebrates, their natural history is poorly known. Despite the fact that Brazil harbors the highest anuran diversity in the world, with almost a thousand known species (Segalla et  al., 2014), the larvae of many species remain undescribed. The problem is not unique to Brazil. At the turn of the century, approximately ⅔ of almost 3,300 anuran species with a larval stage lacked tadpole descriptions (McDiarmid & Altig, 1999). The proportion of neotropical anurans with free-swimming larvae that are not described is estimated to be around 40% (Provete et al., 2012).Fil: Rossa Feres, Denise de C.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Venesky, Matthew. Allegheny College; Estados UnidosFil: Nomura, Fausto. Universidade Federal de Goias; BrasilFil: Eterovick, Paula C.. Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Vera Candioti, María Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Menin, Marcelo. Universidade Federal do Amazonas; BrasilFil: Juncá, Flora A.. Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana; BrasilFil: Schiesari, Luis C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Haddad, Celio F. B.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Garey, Michel V.. Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana; BrasilFil: dos Anjos, Luciano A.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Wasserug, Richard. Dalhousie University Halifax; Canadá. University Of British Columbia; Canad

Stress and chytridiomycosis: Exogenous exposure to corticosterone does not alter amphibian susceptibility to a fungal pathogen

Recent emergence and spread of the amphibian fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been attributed to a number of factors, including environmental stressors that increase host susceptibility to Bd. Physiological stress can increase circulating levels of the hormone, corticosterone, which can alter a host's physiology and affect its susceptibility to pathogens. We experimentally elevated whole‐body levels of corticosterone in both larval and post‐metamorphic amphibians, and subsequently tested their susceptibility to Bd. Larvae of three species were tested ( Anaxyrus boreas , Rana cascadae , and Lithobates catesbeianus ) and one species was tested after metamorphosis ( R. cascadae ). After exposure to Bd, we measured whole‐body corticosterone, infection, mortality, growth, and development. We found that exposure to exogenous corticosterone had no effect on Bd infection in any species or at either life stage. Species varied in whole‐body corticosterone levels and exposure to corticosterone reduced mass in A. boreas and R. cascadae larvae. Exposure to Bd did not affect mortality, but had a number of sublethal effects. Across species, larvae exposed to Bd had higher corticosterone levels than unexposed larvae, but the opposite pattern was found in post‐metamorphic R. cascadae . Bd exposure also increased larval length in all species and increased mass in R. cascadae larvae. Our results indicate that caution is warranted in assuming a strong link between elevated levels of corticosterone and disease susceptibility in amphibians. The role of physiological stress in altering Bd prevalence in amphibian populations is likely much more complicated than can be explained by examining a single “stress” endpoint. J. Exp. Zool. 321A:243–253, 2014 . © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106976/1/jez1855.pd

Are mixed diets beneficial for the welfare of captive axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum)? Effects of feeding regimes on growth and behavior

Good nutritional husbandry is crucial to maintain high welfare standards in captive animals. Both direct effects of diet on growth, development, and maintenance and indirect effects of feeding regimes on behavior may be important. Despite this, many questions remain as to how we should best feed many of the species that are commonly kept in captivity. There is a great deal of speculation among animal keepers as to issues such as whether a mixed diet is better than an invariant one, but little research is available to inform this question. In this study, we investigate the impact of mixed versus invariant diets on growth and behavior in the axolotl (. Ambystoma mexicanum), an aquatic amphibian of severe conservation concern that is frequently maintained in captive collections. We then use our results to provide advice on feeding management in the context of improved welfare. We maintained juvenile axolotls under 1 of 3 "diets" (feeding regimes): bloodworm (invariant), Daphnia (invariant), and alternating these 2 prey items between feeds (mixed). Morphologic and behavioral data were collected over a period of 15weeks and analyzed using generalized linear mixed models to determine whether our feeding treatments influenced growth and behavior. We find that axolotls grew fastest on our bloodworm diet and slowest on our Daphnia diet, with a mixed feeding regime leading to intermediate growth rates. Diet treatment did not significantly influence our measured behaviors, but feeding and locomotion events were more frequent (and resting less frequent) on feeding days than nonfeeding days. These data suggest that providing a mixed diet is not necessarily beneficial to either growth or welfare of captive animals. In the case of axolotls, an invariant diet of bloodworm should increase growth rates, but the diet (mixed vs. invariant) does not influence behavior. Overall, our results suggest that mixed diets in themselves may not be beneficial to the growth or welfare of axolotls as compared with a high-quality invariant diet

Predation and the Maintenance of Color Polymorphism in a Habitat Specialist Squamate

Multiple studies have addressed the mechanisms maintaining polymorphism within a population. However, several examples exist where species inhabiting diverse habitats exhibit local population-specific polymorphism. Numerous explanations have been proposed for the maintenance of geographic variation in color patterns. For example, spatial variation in patterns of selection or limited gene flow can cause entire populations to become fixed for a single morph, resulting in separate populations of the same species exhibiting separate and distinct color morphs. The mottled rock rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus lepidus) is a montane species that exhibits among-population color polymorphism that correlates with substrate color. Habitat substrate in the eastern part of its range is composed primarily of light colored limestone and snakes have light dorsal coloration, whereas in the western region the substrate is primarily dark and snakes exhibit dark dorsal coloration. We hypothesized that predation on high contrast color and blotched patterns maintain these distinct color morphs. To test this we performed a predation experiment in the wild by deploying model snakes at 12 sites evenly distributed within each of the two regions where the different morphs are found. We employed a 2×2 factorial design that included two color and two blotched treatments. Our results showed that models contrasting with substrate coloration suffered significantly more avian attacks relative to models mimicking substrates. Predation attempts on blotched models were similar in each substrate type. These results support the hypothesis that color pattern is maintained by selective predation