Faculty Research and Publications

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Browsing Faculty Research and Publications by Author "Anderson, Roland C."

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    Ethics and invertebrates: a cephalopod perspective
    (Inter Research, 2007) Mather, Jennifer A.; Anderson, Roland C.
    This paper first explores 3 philosophical bases for attitudes to invertebrates, Contractarian/Kantian, Utilitarian, and Rights-based, and what they lead us to conclude about how we use and care for these animals. We next discuss the problems of evaluating pain and suffering in invertebrates, pointing out that physiological responses to stress are widely similar across the animal kingdom and that most animals show behavioral responses to potentially painful stimuli. Since cephalopods are often used as a test group for consideration of pain, distress and proper conditions for captivity and handling, we evaluate their behavioral and cognitive capacities. Given these capacities, we then discuss practical issues: minimization of their pain and suffering during harvesting for food; ensuring that captive cephalopods are properly cared for, stimulated and allowed to live as full a life as possible; and, lastly, working for their conservation.
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    Octopus vulgaris in the Caribbean is a specializing generalist
    (Inter Research, 2008) Anderson, Roland C.; Wood, James B.; Mather, Jennifer A.
    The diet of Octopus vulgaris was determined from the remains of 649 prey items gathered from the middens of 38 dens in a small area off the Caribbean island of Bonaire. Remains of 35 species of gastropod (19% of the total), 19 bivalves (51%) and 21 crustaceans (30%) were identified and examined for mode of entry into hard-shelled prey. Although 60% of the gastropods were drilled, neither the size/weight ratio nor the presence of an operculum determined whether drilling occurred. There were strong differences in prey preference among individual octopuses, and the Cardona niche breadth index (B’) of the midden items was 0.08, indicative of specialization. Examples include the exclusive preference for Pinna carnea by one den occupant. This study, by focusing on assessment of preference at specific den locations, is the first to show that while the population had a wide choice of prey items, the individual choices were much narrower, indicating that octopuses were specializing generalists.