Megan Dudenhoeffer

• Master of Science
• Research Assistant at University of Wyoming

COVER PHOTO: An African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) and two Grévy's zebras (Equus grevyi) forage at Mpala Research Centre and Conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya during July 2019. These and other herbivores suppress plant biomass, and herbivore extinctions may trigger a cascade of broader changes throughout the ecological communities they once in...

Diverse communities of large mammalian herbivores (LMH), once widespread, are now rare. LMH exert strong direct and indirect effects on community structure and ecosystem functions, and measuring these effects is important for testing ecological theory and for understanding past, current, and future environmental change. This in turn requires long‐t...

Hummingbirds (Trochilidae) are sensitive to environmental changes because of their extraordinary ecology, metabolism, and the highest red blood cell counts found in any vertebrate. These physiological attributes may render hummingbirds particularly susceptible to the effects of haemosporidian (blood parasite) infections. Much of the research on hae...

Animal communication networks are built from interactions between senders and receivers of signals. The drivers of signaling decisions, which are the building blocks of such networks, are not well understood. Theory predicts that conditions which ensure information spread to the largest possible number of receivers should be favored. Several carniv...

http://hdl.handle.net/1993/34969

The invasive erect prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia stricta ) has reduced rangeland quality and altered plant communities throughout much of the globe. In central Kenya's Laikipia County, olive baboons ( Papio anubis ) frequently consume O. stricta fruits and subsequently disperse the seeds via defecation. Animal‐mediated seed dispersal can increase g...

Background: Dysregulation of iron homeostasis is implicated in the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease. We have previously shown that increased iron intake in R6/2 HD neonatal mice, but not adult R6/2 HD mice potentiates disease outcomes at 12-weeks of age corresponding to advanced HD [Redox Biol. 2015;4 : 363–74]. However, whether these findings...