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:Advisor: Michael Sheriff Committee Members: Professor Mark Silb y, Professor Genny Kozak, and Professor Vanni Bucci (UMass Chan Medical). Abstract: Predators influence prey not only by killing them, but also by a ltering how they behave and function in the face of chronic risk. In this dissertation, I examine whether the gut microbiome can help reveal how ani mals experience environmental stress, and whether it can contribute to the assessment of wild animal welfare. Using white-footed mice (Peromyscus le ucopus) as a study system, I combine a conceptual review with captive and free-living experiments to test how chronic auditory predator cues affect the microbiome, fecal glucocorticoids, and behavior. Across these studies, predation risk was associated with shifts in gut-microbial community stru cture and temporal dynamics, with the strongest patterns emerging at the l evel of overall community reorganization rather than consistent changes in alpha diversity or single taxa. In free-living mice, microbial responses to predation risk were only weakly aligned with endocrine and behavioral m easures, suggesting that responses to fear in the wild are often subtle, m ultidimensional, and not necessarily coupled across biological systems. To gether, this work shows that the gut microbiome is sensitive to ecological ly relevant stressors and may provide a useful new tool for understanding animal welfare under natural conditions.\nEvent page: https://www.umassd.e du/events/cms/the-cascading-effects-of-predation-risk-in-the-wild-how-the- gut-microbiome-mediates-the-adaptive-fear-response.php X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Advisor: Michael Sheriff

\n< p>Committee Members: Professor Mark Silby\, Professor Genny Kozak\, and Pr ofessor Vanni Bucci (UMass Chan Medical).

Abstract: Predators infl uence prey not only by killing them\, but also by altering how they behave and function in the face of chronic risk. In this dissertation\, I examin e whether the gut microbiome can help reveal how animals experience enviro nmental stress\, and whether it can contribute to the assessment of wild a nimal welfare. Using white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) as a study sy stem\, I combine a conceptual review with captive and free-living experime nts to test how chronic auditory predator cues affect the microbiome\, fec al glucocorticoids\, and behavior. Across these studies\, predation risk w as associated with shifts in gut-microbial community structure and tempora l dynamics\, with the strongest patterns emerging at the level of overall community reorganization rather than consistent changes in alpha diversity or single taxa. In free-living mice\, microbial responses to predation ri sk were only weakly aligned with endocrine and behavioral measures\, sugge sting that responses to fear in the wild are often subtle\, multidimension al\, and not necessarily coupled across biological systems. Together\, thi s work shows that the gut microbiome is sensitive to ecologically relevant stressors and may provide a useful new tool for understanding animal welf are under natural conditions.

Event page: https://www.uma ssd.edu/events/cms/the-cascading-effects-of-predation-risk-in-the-wild-how -the-gut-microbiome-mediates-the-adaptive-fear-response.php

DTSTAMP:20260424T004033 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260514T110000 LOCATION:CCB-340 SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:The Cascading Effects of Predation Risk in the Wild: How the Gut Microbiome Mediates the Adaptive Fear Response UID:56f2839c4ca372ab1a0d23500aaeeba8@www.umassd.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR