Detection of an invasive aquatic species by canine olfaction

Quaife, Jesse Austin

Detection of an invasive aquatic species by canine olfaction

dc.contributor.advisor	Edwards, Timothy L.
dc.contributor.advisor	Browne, Clare Melody
dc.contributor.author	Quaife, Jesse Austin
dc.date.accessioned	2018-10-19T00:12:30Z
dc.date.available	2018-10-19T00:12:30Z
dc.date.issued	2018
dc.date.updated	2018-09-27T19:00:36Z
dc.description.abstract	Invasive species represent a major concern for native flora and fauna in New Zealand waterways. Current surveying methods employed in the detection of these species typically rely on visually observing or catching fish and are often expensive and difficult to implement. Given that freshwater fish release organic materials into the water, and that some of these materials contain volatile elements that are then released into the air above the surface, it was hypothesised that domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) may be able to detect the presence of these species by smelling water samples that have contained them. In this study, four experiments were conducted to determine the validity of this hypothesis. Five pet dogs were trained using a go/no-go procedure to operate an automated apparatus that presented individual water samples through an opening in the front panel. Dogs were presented with samples from aquaria that had or had not contained fish. In Experiment 1, dogs were presented with water from aquaria containing koi carp (Cyprinus carpio) and aquaria containing no fish. In Experiment 2, koi carp samples were systematically diluted until concentrations similar to those found within the natural environment were reached. Experiment 3 sought to determine whether dogs could discriminate koi carp from a distantly-related fish (brown bullhead catfish, Ameiurus nebulosus). Experiment 4 replicated the previous experiment with a closely-related fish (goldfish, Carassius auratus). In all four experiments, dogs were able to correctly identify water that had contained koi carp and largely ignore water samples that had contained either no fish or other species of fish at above 80% accuracy. The overall results of this research indicate that dogs are able to accurately detect the presence of koi carp from water samples at concentrations similar to those found within the natural environment, and to discriminate between at least three species of fish. These findings suggest that dogs may have an important role to play in waterway conservation and management.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Quaife, J. A. (2018). Detection of an invasive aquatic species by canine olfaction (Thesis, Master of Applied Psychology (MAppPsy)). The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/12124	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/12124
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	The University of Waikato
dc.rights	All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.subject	Dogs
dc.subject	Scent detection
dc.subject	signal detection
dc.subject	behaviour analysis
dc.subject	canine
dc.title	Detection of an invasive aquatic species by canine olfaction
dc.type	Thesis
pubs.place-of-publication	Hamilton, New Zealand	en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor	The University of Waikato
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Master of Applied Psychology (MAppPsy)