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Florida International University

Department of Biological Sciences

2008

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Why Do Dolphins Carry Sponges?, Janet Mann, Brooke L. Sargeant, Jana J. Watson-Capps, Quincy A. Gibson, Michael R. Heithaus, Richard C. Connor, Eric Patterson Dec 2008

Why Do Dolphins Carry Sponges?, Janet Mann, Brooke L. Sargeant, Jana J. Watson-Capps, Quincy A. Gibson, Michael R. Heithaus, Richard C. Connor, Eric Patterson

Department of Biological Sciences

Tool use is rare in wild animals, but of widespread interest because of its relationship to animal cognition, social learning and culture. Despite such attention, quantifying the costs and benefits of tool use has been difficult, largely because if tool use occurs, all population members typically exhibit the behavior. In Shark Bay, Australia, only a subset of the bottlenose dolphin population uses marine sponges as tools, providing an opportunity to assess both proximate and ultimate costs and benefits and document patterns of transmission. We compared sponge-carrying (sponger) females to non-spongecarrying (non-sponger) females and show that spongers were more solitary, spent …


Current State Of Conservation Knowledge On Threatened Amphibian Species In Peru, Rudolf Von May, Alessandro Catenazzi, Ariande Angulo, Jason L. Brown, Jorge Carrillo, German Chavez, Jesus H. Cordova, Aleyda Curo, Amanda Delgado, Marco A. Enciso, Roberto Gutierrez, Edgar Lehr, Jorge L. Martinez, Margarita Medina-Muller, Alfonso Miranda, Daniel R. Neira, Jose A. Ochoa, Aaron J. Quiroz, Daniel A. Rodriguez, Lily O. Rodriguez, Antonio W. Salas, Tracie Seimon, Anton Seimon, Karen Siu-Ting, Juana Suarez, Claudia Torres, Evan Twomey Dec 2008

Current State Of Conservation Knowledge On Threatened Amphibian Species In Peru, Rudolf Von May, Alessandro Catenazzi, Ariande Angulo, Jason L. Brown, Jorge Carrillo, German Chavez, Jesus H. Cordova, Aleyda Curo, Amanda Delgado, Marco A. Enciso, Roberto Gutierrez, Edgar Lehr, Jorge L. Martinez, Margarita Medina-Muller, Alfonso Miranda, Daniel R. Neira, Jose A. Ochoa, Aaron J. Quiroz, Daniel A. Rodriguez, Lily O. Rodriguez, Antonio W. Salas, Tracie Seimon, Anton Seimon, Karen Siu-Ting, Juana Suarez, Claudia Torres, Evan Twomey

Department of Biological Sciences

This study documents the current state of conservation knowledge on threatened amphibian species in Peru. Following the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classification system, we considered species in the following categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, and Near Threatened. Even though only the first three categories are regarded as threatened by IUCN, we included the fourth category to make comparisons with the list of threatened species issued by the Peruvian government. We used the Global Amphibian Assessment's database and the list issued in Peru for this comparison. We conducted separate field surveys in 17 regions of Peru to …


Comparison Of Fish Assemblages In Two Littoral Habitats In A Neotropical Morichal Stream In Venezuela, Carmen G. Montaña, Craig A. Layman, Donald C. Taphorn Dec 2008

Comparison Of Fish Assemblages In Two Littoral Habitats In A Neotropical Morichal Stream In Venezuela, Carmen G. Montaña, Craig A. Layman, Donald C. Taphorn

Department of Biological Sciences

Morichales are lowland streams in South American savannas with riparian forest dominated by the moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa). We sampled littoral habitats from ten flooded vegetated patches (dominated by Mauritiella aculeate) and six sand banks in two months of the dry season (Feb-Mar 2005) in a stream in the savannas of Apure State, Venezuela. We collected samples that compromised 12,407 individual fishes of 107 species. Small-bodied fishes (< 100 mm), representing diverse trophic and life history strategies, were abundant. The most abundant species were in the families Characidae and Cichlidae. Fish assemblages from flooded vegetated patches differed significantly from those on adjacent sand banks. High structural complexity along vegetated shoreline habitats of morichal streams likely contributes to species richness and affects assemblage composition.


Dermatological Remedies In The Traditional Pharmacopoeia Of Vulture-Alto Bradano, Inland Southern Italy, Cassandra L. Quave, Andrea Pieroni, Bradley C. Bennett Feb 2008

Dermatological Remedies In The Traditional Pharmacopoeia Of Vulture-Alto Bradano, Inland Southern Italy, Cassandra L. Quave, Andrea Pieroni, Bradley C. Bennett

Department of Biological Sciences

Background: Dermatological remedies make up at least one-third of the traditional pharmacopoeia in southern Italy. The identification of folk remedies for the skin is important both for the preservation of traditional medical knowledge and in the search for novel antimicrobial agents in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI). Our goal is to document traditional remedies from botanical, animal, mineral and industrial sources for the topical treatment of skin ailments. In addition to SSTI remedies for humans, we also discuss certain ethnoveterinary applications. Methods: Field research was conducted in ten communities in the Vulture-Alto Bradano area of the …