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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Varriation Of Growth Rates In Yellow-Bellied Marmots, Carmen M. Salsbury, K. B. Armitage Dec 2009

Varriation Of Growth Rates In Yellow-Bellied Marmots, Carmen M. Salsbury, K. B. Armitage

Carmen M. Salsbury

Growth rates of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) populations over a 32-year period (1965 -1996) varied Significantly with sex, age, location, and year. Overall, males had higher growth rates than females and young and yearlings generally had higher growth rates compared to adults at all locations. The locations varied with respect to elevation and the relationship between elevation and growth rate was complex and likely weather dependent. Low rainfall in late summer was often associated with low growth rates at high elevations where the active season is constrained and delayed by late spring snowmelt compared to low elevations. Growth rates and …


Varriation Of Growth Rates In Yellow-Bellied Marmots, Carmen M. Salsbury, K. B. Armitage Dec 2009

Varriation Of Growth Rates In Yellow-Bellied Marmots, Carmen M. Salsbury, K. B. Armitage

Carmen M. Salsbury

Growth rates of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) populations over a 32-year period (1965 -1996) varied Significantly with sex, age, location, and year. Overall, males had higher growth rates than females and young and yearlings generally had higher growth rates compared to adults at all locations. The locations varied with respect to elevation and the relationship between elevation and growth rate was complex and likely weather dependent. Low rainfall in late summer was often associated with low growth rates at high elevations where the active season is constrained and delayed by late spring snowmelt compared to low elevations. Growth rates and …


Indicator Groups And Faunal Richness, Jerome K. Vanclay Oct 2009

Indicator Groups And Faunal Richness, Jerome K. Vanclay

Professor Jerome K Vanclay

Species richness is a popular indicator of ecosystem vitality, but is difficult to assess. Many natural resource managers seek an efficient bioindicator, but the link between candidate indicators and the richness of other taxononic groups remains elusive. A series of faunal surveys in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve in Cameroon suggest that it may be possible to devise faunal bioindicators. The species richness of birds, of butterflies and of termites is significantly correlated with total faunal richness across eight species groups, suggesting that these groups may have potential as bioindicators, alone or in combination. Although expensive, further research is warranted because …


Projected Climate Change Effects On Nuthatch Distribution And Diversity Across Asia, Shaily Menon, M. Zafar-Ul Islam, A. Townsend Peterson Sep 2009

Projected Climate Change Effects On Nuthatch Distribution And Diversity Across Asia, Shaily Menon, M. Zafar-Ul Islam, A. Townsend Peterson

Shaily Menon

We used ecological niche modeling approaches to explore climate change implications for one family of birds, the Sittidae, in Asia. Quantitative niche models based on present-day distributions for each of 13 species were projected onto future climate change scenarios. Species’ potential distributional areas tended to be predicted to retract along their fringes, and at lower elevations along mountain ranges. As observed in other studies, montane systems were relatively more robust to the horizontal effects of climate change on species’ distributions compared to flatland systems, so range contractions were focused in Southeast Asia and peninsular India.


Preliminary Analysis Of The Ecology And Geography Of The Asian Nuthatches (Aves: Sittidae), Shaily Menon, Zafar-Ul Islam, Jorge Soberon, A. Townsend Peterson Aug 2009

Preliminary Analysis Of The Ecology And Geography Of The Asian Nuthatches (Aves: Sittidae), Shaily Menon, Zafar-Ul Islam, Jorge Soberon, A. Townsend Peterson

Shaily Menon

We explored distributions of Asian nuthatch species in ecological and geographic space using ecological niche modeling based on occurrence data associated with specimens and observations. Nuthatches represent a well-defined clade occurring throughout the Northern Hemisphere, but are most diverse in southern Asia where 15 of the 24 species occur and where the lineage is believed to have evolved. Species richness was focused in a narrow east-west band corresponding to the forested parts of the Himalayas with a maximum number of nine species predicted present in these foci. The distributional predictions have a mid-elevation focus with highest species diversity between 1,000 …


Road-Killed Bats, Highway Design, And The Commuting Ecology Of Bats, Amy L. Russell, Calvin M. Butchkoski, Leslie Saidak, Gary F. Mccracken Jun 2009

Road-Killed Bats, Highway Design, And The Commuting Ecology Of Bats, Amy L. Russell, Calvin M. Butchkoski, Leslie Saidak, Gary F. Mccracken

Amy L. Russell

During a Myotis sodalis telemetry project in Pennsylvania, USA, in 2000, road-killed M. lucifugus were recorded and a highway survey was initiated. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of mortality from road kills on this colony, verify which species were being killed in traffic and examine the influence of canopy height and structure on flight behavior. On 10 evenings between 15 May and 26 July 2001, bats were counted as they emerged from day roosts and crossed a heavily trafficked highway en route to foraging areas. A total of 26 442 bats were observed cross- ing …


Aquaculture In The Republic Of Georgia., Michael Rice Dec 2008

Aquaculture In The Republic Of Georgia., Michael Rice

Michael A Rice

Aquaculture in the Republic of Georgia is dominated by the culture of brown trout, Salmo trutta grown in fish farms located on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucusus mountain range and in the Lesser Caucasus range in the southwestern region of the country. To a lesser extent, other species are farmed in the lowland valleys, including several species of carps and barbs, and a local silurid catfish. Experimental culture of mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis is in progress on the Black Sea coast near the city of Batumi.


Inheritance Of Shoulder Spotting In The Tetra, Hyphessobrycon Bentosi Characidae, Jack Frankel Dec 2008

Inheritance Of Shoulder Spotting In The Tetra, Hyphessobrycon Bentosi Characidae, Jack Frankel

Jack Frankel

The tetra (Hyphessobrycon bentosi) exhibits two phenotypes associated with shoulder spotting. Fish possess ei-ther a prominent black vertical spot located directly behind the operculum (H. b. bentosi,  bentosi  white  tip  tetra) or  lack  this spot (H. b. rosaceus, rosy tetra). Segregation patterns observed from the progenies of ten different crosses suggest that the  inheritance  of  these  phenotypes  is  controlled  by  two  autosomal  loci  acting  in  a complementary  fashion,  with  domi-nance at both loci required for the expression of the spotted phenotype. 


Multiple Colonisations Of The Western Indian Ocean By Pteropus Fruit Bats (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae): The Furthest Islands Were Colonised First, John O'Brien, Carol Mariani, Link Olson, Amy L. Russell, Ludovic Say, Anne D. Yoder, Tom J. Hayden Dec 2008

Multiple Colonisations Of The Western Indian Ocean By Pteropus Fruit Bats (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae): The Furthest Islands Were Colonised First, John O'Brien, Carol Mariani, Link Olson, Amy L. Russell, Ludovic Say, Anne D. Yoder, Tom J. Hayden

Amy L. Russell

We investigate the genetic relationships between purported island species of Pteropus fruit bat (Megachi- roptera) from the western Indian Ocean islands using mitochondrial DNA sequencing in order to infer the pattern of colonisation of this biogeographic region. Most significantly, our genetic data questions the current taxonomic assignment based on morphology of many of the island species and subspecies, sug- gesting instead that many of the western Indian Ocean islands harbour ‘races’ of P. giganteus from main- land India. Our results strongly argue against a single colonisation event from mainland Asia. Evidence is presented for three colonisation events; the first to …


Reintroduction Of The Chinese Tiger, Philip J. Nyhus, Urs Breitenmoser, Ron Tilson Dec 2008

Reintroduction Of The Chinese Tiger, Philip J. Nyhus, Urs Breitenmoser, Ron Tilson

Philip J. Nyhus

No abstract provided.


Anuran Captured In Pitfall Traps In Three Agrossystem In Northwestern São Paulo State, Brazil, Rodrigo Souza Santos Rss Dec 2008

Anuran Captured In Pitfall Traps In Three Agrossystem In Northwestern São Paulo State, Brazil, Rodrigo Souza Santos Rss

Rodrigo Souza Santos RSS

Although it is generally assumed that agriculture negatively influences amphibian populations, few studies on the effects of agricultural cultivations on neotropical anuran have been conducted. As a contribution to the knowledge about anuran in agriculture, the present study sought to identify the anuran species present in three different agrossystems. We used data from anurans captured in pitfall traps initially proposed for a survey of harvestmen fauna in three agrossystems (corn, soybean, and rubber tree). Four anuran species found in the pitfall traps belong to two Families: Leptodactylidae: Leptodactulus fuscus and L. mystacinus; and Leiuperidae: Eupemphix nattereri and Physalaemus cuvieri. In …