BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:EventsCalendar PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York LAST-MODIFIED:20240422T053451Z TZURL:https://www.tzurl.org/zoneinfo-outlook/America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:College of Arts and Sciences,Lectures and Seminars,Thesis/Disser tations DESCRIPTION:PhD Advisor: Dr. Michael Sheriff Committee Members: Dr. Eri n Bromage (UMass Dartmouth), Dr. Robert Gegear (UMass Dartmouth), and Dr. Jaqueline Blundell (Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada). Abstract : Free-living animals encounter a wide range of ecological and environmen tal stressors throughout their lifetime, which can shape both cognitive pe rformance and neural function. While cognitive abilities, particularly lea rning and memory, are critical for responding effectively to these stresso rs, evidence suggests that stress exposure –in particular glucocorticoid hormones – can, in turn, affect cognition. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these bidirectional interactions remain poorly unde rstood, especially in wild systems. Thus, in this dissertation, I investig ated how chronic predation risk and glucocorticoid hormones influence cogn ition in wild white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). I further examined the effects of predation risk on the relationship between neuronal activat ion patterns and cognitive performance. In Chapter 2, I show that chronic predation risk did not impair learning but had a small effect on short-ter m memory, it may be that altered exploration strategies help animals maint ain learning performance under chronic predation risk conditions. In Chapt er 3, I show that glucocorticoids had no effect on associative learning an d short-term memory, but did affect spatial learning and short-term memory , and the opposite pattern was true for long-term memory. Finally, in Chap ter 4, I show how predation risk reduced neuronal activation patterns in t he hippocampus and alters the relationship between neuronal activation pat terns and cognitive performance. Overall, this work provides novel insight into how predation risk and stress hormones shape cognition and brain fun ction in wild animals. These findings highlight the importance of studying neurobiological mechanisms in ecologically relevant contexts to better un derstand how animals maintain adaptive function under chronic environmenta l stress.\nEvent page: https://www.umassd.edu/events/cms/biology-phd-disse rtation-defense-by-carolina-c-ganci.php X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

PhD Advisor: Dr. Michael Sheriff

Committee Members: Dr. Eri n Bromage (UMass Dartmouth)\, Dr. Robert Gegear (UMass Dartmouth)\, and Dr . Jaqueline Blundell (Memorial University of Newfoundland\, Canada).

Abstract: Free-living animals encounter a wide range of ecological and environmental stressors throughout their lifetime\, whic h can shape both cognitive performance and neural function. While cognitiv e abilities\, particularly learning and memory\, are critical for respondi ng effectively to these stressors\, evidence suggests that stress exposure –in particular glucocorticoid hormones – can\, in turn\, affect cogni tion. However\, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these bidirectio nal interactions remain poorly understood\, especially in wild systems. Th us\, in this dissertation\, I investigated how chronic predation risk and glucocorticoid hormones influence cognition in wild white-footed mice (Per omyscus leucopus). I further examined the effects of predation risk on the relationship between neuronal activation patterns and cognitive performan ce. In Chapter 2\, I show that chronic predation risk did not impair learn ing but had a small effect on short-term memory\, it may be that altered e xploration strategies help animals maintain learning performance under chr onic predation risk conditions. In Chapter 3\, I show that glucocorticoids had no effect on associative learning and short-term memory\, but did aff ect spatial learning and short-term memory\, and the opposite pattern was true for long-term memory. Finally\, in Chapter 4\, I show how predation r isk reduced neuronal activation patterns in the hippocampus and alters the relationship between neuronal activation patterns and cognitive performan ce. Overall\, this work provides novel insight into how predation risk and stress hormones shape cognition and brain function in wild animals. These findings highlight the importance of studying neurobiological mechanisms in ecologically relevant contexts to better understand how animals maintai n adaptive function under chronic environmental stress.

Event page: https://www.umassd.edu/events/cms/biology-phd-d issertation-defense-by-carolina-c-ganci.php

DTSTAMP:20260417T034647 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260508T130000 LOCATION:SENG Bldg., Room# 305 SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:Biology PhD Dissertation Defense by Carolina C. Ganc i UID:fb39235cd0e3c25f91e3e92e233fcff3@www.umassd.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR