Committee Chair

Klug, Hope

Committee Member

Farnsley, Sarah; Aborn, David

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Environmental enrichment is utilized to elevate welfare of animals under human care; it has been shown to increase well-being, promote natural behaviors, and reduce maladaptive behaviors in fishes. I evaluated seasonal mimicking as environmental enrichment in the Tennessee Aquarium’s Ridges to Rivers stream tank. I quantified behaviors of tangerine darters and Tennessee dace in response to increasing temperature. If seasonal mimicking functions as environmental enrichment, I expected both species to exhibit behaviors consistent with those observed in wild populations. Tennessee dace became more active. Tangerine darters became more active, increased their space use, were more likely to be adjacent to another fish, and spent more time begging. Both species did not exhibit maladaptive behaviors. My results show that both species exhibit behaviors expected of wild populations, demonstrate that maladaptive behaviors do not arise in response to seasonal mimicking, and thus indicate that seasonal mimicking is effective enrichment for both species.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Tennessee Aquarium and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, particularly the Department of Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science, for contributions that helped make this project possible. Specifically, I’d like to thank Dr. Hope Klug for advising me and supporting my interest in research, Dr. David Aborn and Professor Sarah Farnsley for joining my committee and providing guidance, Avery Millard and Ben Stenger for collaborating with me, and Dr. Bernard Kuhajda for coining the term “reconnoitering.” Additionally, I’d like to thank all my professors and fellow graduate teaching assistants for their support over the past two years, as well as my friends and family (specifically my husband, Nathaniel Sirmans) for their unwavering encouragement.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

12-2025

Subject

Aquarium fishes--Environmental enrichment--Seasonal variations--Tennessee--Research; Aquatic animal welfare; Fishes--Behavior--Tennessee--Research

Keyword

fish behavior; enrichment; seasonal mimicking; Tennessee dace; tangerine darter; aquarium

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

ix, 67 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Date Available

1-1-2027

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Available for download on Friday, January 01, 2027

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