Life Sciences Commons^™

Conservation In The Context Of Climate Change: Practical Guidelines For Land Protection At Local Scales, Kevin Ruddock, Peter August, Christopher Damon, Charles Labash, Pamela Rubinoff, Donald Robadue Jr.

Peter August

Climate change will affect the composition of plant and animal communities in many habitats and geographic settings. This presents a dilemma for conservation programs – will the portfolio of protected lands we now have achieve a goal of conserving biodiversity in the future when the ecological communities occurring within them change? Climate change will significantly alter many plant communities, but the geophysical underpinnings of these landscapes, such as landform, elevation, soil, and geological properties, will largely remain the same. Studies show that extant landscapes with a diversity of geophysical characteristics support diverse plant and animal communities. Therefore, geophysically diverse landscapes …

La Diversidad De Los Analisis De Diversidad [The Diversity Of Diversity Analyses], Victor D. Carmona

Victor D. Carmona-Galindo

There is a lack of consistency with respect to the use of the terms like species richness, diversity and biodiversity, which extends to the analysis of diversity indices and the merit of using diversity indices in the evaluation (comparison and contrast) of biological communities. The purpose of this article is to provide working definitions for these terms and cite examples from the primary literature that demonstrate the utility of estimating richness, evaluating proportional abundance patterns, as well as comparing indices of diversity and similarity to study patterns of biological organization at different ecological scales. Additionally, we provide a manual in …

Effects Of Natural Flooding And Manual Trapping On The Facilitation Of Invasive Crayfish-Native Amphibian Coexistence In A Semi-Arid Perennial Stream, Lee Kats, Gary Bucciarelli, Thomas Vandergon, Rodney Honeycutt, Evan Mattiasen, Arthur Sanders, Seth Riley, Jacob Kerby, Robert Fisher

Lee Kats

Aquatic amphibians are known to be vulnerable to a myriad of invasive predators. Invasive crayfish are thought to have eliminated native populations of amphibians in some streams in the semi-arid Santa Monica Mountains of southern California. Despite their toxic skin secretions that defend them from native predators, newts are vulnerable to crayfish attacks, and crayfish have been observed attacking adult newts, and eating newt egg masses and larvae. For 15 years, we have observed invasive crayfish and native California newts coexisting in one stream in the Santa Monica Mountains. During that period, we monitored the densities of both crayfish and …

Welcome To The Journal Of Evolution And Health, Aaron Blaisdell, Paul Jaminet, David C. Pendergrass

Aaron P Blaisdell

Welcome to the first issue of the Journal of Evolution and Health! The Journal of Evolution and Health is the peer-reviewed, open-access journal of the Ancestral Health Society, a community of scientists, healthcare professionals, and laypersons who collaborate to understand health challenges from an evolutionary perspective.

Unbalanced Nature, Unbounded Bodies, And Unlimited Technology: Ecocriticism And Karen Traviss’S Wess’Har Series, Heather Sullivan

Heather I Sullivan

While nature is often claimed to be a space of harmonized balance or an antidote to the chaos of the modern world, we need a more grounded assessment of nature as endlessly changing and much less predictable than we like to assume. In this essay, I explore Karen Traviss’ provocative exploration of unbalanced nature and unbounded bodies in her wess’har series with the guidance of two ecocritics who reject the concept of balanced nature, Dana Phillips and Ursula Heise. Additionally, I turn to the environmental philosopher Val Plumwood for insights regarding Traviss’ spurious yet rather standard vision of an unlimited …

Modelling C3 Photosynthesis From The Choroplast To The Ecosystem, Andy Vanloocke, Carl J. Bernacchi, Justin E. Bagley, Shawn P. Serbin, Ursula M. Ruiz-Vera, David M. Rosenthal

Andy VanLoocke

Moving Across The Border: Modeling Migratory Bat Populations, Ruscena Wiederholt, Laura López-Hoffman, Jon Cline, Rodrigo A. Medellín, Paul Cryan, Amy L. Russell, Gary Mccracken, Jay Diffendorfer, Darius Semmens

Amy L. Russell

Darwin Correspondence Project, Betty Landesman

Betty Landesman

Review of the Darwin Correspondence Project web site, http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/

A New Skeleton Of The Cryptoclidid Plesiosaur Tatenectes Laramiensis Reveals A Novel Body Shape Among Plesiosaurs, F. Robin O’Keefe, Hallie P. Street, Benjamin C. Wilhelm, Courtney D. Richards, Helen Zhu

F. Robin O’Keefe

Current knowledge of plesiosaurs of clade Cryptoclidia is constrained by a lack of fossils from outside the Oxford Clay deposits of England. Recent fieldwork in the Sundance Formation of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, has resulted in the recovery of significant new fossils of cryptoclidid plesiosaurs, including the small-bodied form Tatenectes laramiensis. A new partial skeleton of this taxon is reported here; it is the most complete and best-preserved example of the taxon found to date, comprising a complete dorsal vertebral series, many ribs and gastralia, and a complete pelvic girdle. This skeleton illuminates several unique features of the taxon, including …

Osteology Of The Cryptocleidoid Plesiosaur Tatenectes Laramiensis, With Comments On The Taxonomic Status Of The Cimoliasauridae, F. Robin O’Keefe, Hallie P. Street

F. Robin O’Keefe

Recent field work in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming has recovered significant new material of the plesiosaur Tatenectes laramiensis. The majority of cryptocleidoid plesiosaurs have been recovered from Middle and Upper Jurassic units (Oxford and Kimmeridge Clays, respectively) in the United Kingdom, but Tatenectes laramiensis is one of at least two cryptocleidoids known from the Upper Sundance Member of the Sundance Formation (Oxfordian) of North America. Although poorly known, they bear directly on both the phylogeny and biogeography of the cryptocleidoid plesiosaurs. Here we describe new fossil material of Tatenectes, and reevaluate the phylogenetic position of this genus based on all …

Molecular Pedomorphism Underlies Craniofacial Skeletal Evolution In Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes, R. Albertson, Yi-Lin Yan, Tom Titus, Eva Pisano, Marino Vacchi, Pamela Yelick, H. Detrich, John Postlethwait

H. William Detrich III

Background Pedomorphism is the retention of ancestrally juvenile traits by adults in a descendant taxon. Despite its importance for evolutionary change, there are few examples of a molecular basis for this phenomenon. Notothenioids represent one of the best described species flocks among marine fishes, but their diversity is currently threatened by the rapidly changing Antarctic climate. Notothenioid evolutionary history is characterized by parallel radiations from a benthic ancestor to pelagic predators, which was accompanied by the appearance of several pedomorphic traits, including the reduction of skeletal mineralization that resulted in increased buoyancy. Results We compared craniofacial skeletal development in two …

Neoteny And The Plesiomorphic Condition Of The Plesiosaur Basicranium, F. Robin O’Keefe

F. Robin O’Keefe

The purpose of this paper is to describe the condition of the braincase in stratigraphically early and morphologically primitive plesiosaurs. Information on the braincase of plesiomorphic taxa is important because it establishes the polarity of characters occurring in more derived plesiosaurs. This paper begins with a short review of braincase anatomy in stem-group sauropterygians. Data on braincase morphology of the plesiomorphic plesiosaur genera Thalassiodracon and Eurycleidus are then presented and interpreted via comparison with other plesiosaurs, stemgroup sauropterygians, and stem diapsids (Araeoscelis). Early diapsids are relevant because plesiosaur skulls more closely resemble early diapsids than stem-group sauropterygians in several key …

Physiological Effects Of Nickel Chloride On The Freshwater Cyanobacterium Synechococcus Sp. Iu 625, Brian Nohomovich, Bao T. Nguyen, Michael Quintanilla, Lee H. Lee, Sean R. Murray, Tin-Chun Chu

Tinchun Chu, Ph.D.

Encyclopedia Of Animal Behavior, A. Payne, P. Starks, Aviva Liebert

Aviva E Liebert

The Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior has engaged-with great success-the efforts of many of the best behavioral biologists of the 21st century. Section editors drawn from the most accomplished behavioral scientists of their generation have enrolled an international cast of highly respected thinkers and writers-all of whom have taken great care and joy in illuminating every imaginable corner of animal behavior. This comprehensive work covers not only the usual topics such as communication, learning, sexual selection, navigation, and the history of the field, but also emerging topics in cognition, animal welfare, conservation, and applications of animal behavior. The large section on …

Nature Notes: Environews # 6, Richard B. Philp

Richard B. Philp

This paper reviews rewcent informaion regarding invasive species and vindicates the lowly beaver

The World’S Deepest Subterranean Community - Krubera-Voronja Cave (Western Caucasus), Alberto Sendra, Ana Sofia P.S. Reboleira

Ana Sofia P.S. Reboleira

Subsurface biota extends over a wide variety of habitats that can be spatially interconnected. The largest communities of this subsurface biota inhabit cavities and are well known mainly in caves where biologists are able to have access. Data about deep subterranean communities and arthropods living under one thousand meters was unknown. An expedition to world’s deepest cave, Krubera-Voronja in Western Caucasus, revealed an interesting subterranean community, living below 2000 meters and represented by more than 12 species of arthropods, including several new species for science. This deep cave biota is composed of troglobionts and also epigean species, that can penetrate …

Evidence Of Pachyostosis In The Cryptocleidoid Plesiosaur Tatenectes Laramiensis From The Sundance Formation Of Wyoming, Hallie P. Street, F. Robin O’Keefe

F. Robin O’Keefe

In this paper we present evidence for pachyostosis in the cryptocleidoid plesiosaur Tatenectes laramiensis Knight, 1900 (O'Keefe and Wahl, 2003a). Pachyostosis is not common in plesiosaurs and is particularly rare in non-pliosaurian plesiosaurs, although enlarged gastralia were first recognized in Tatenectes by Wahl (1999). This study aims to investigate the nature of the disproportionately large gastralia of Tatenectes m greater depth, based on new material. A recently discovered partial skeleton consisting of a dorsal vertebral series, ribs, gastralia, and a complete pelvic girdle was collected from the Jurassic-aged Sundance Formation of the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming during the summer of …

On The Cranial Anatomy Of The Polycotylid Plesiosaurs, Including New Material Of Polycotylus Latipinnis, Cope, From Alabama, F. Robin O’Keefe

F. Robin O’Keefe

The cranial anatomy of plesiosaurs in the family Polycotylidae (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) has received renewed attention recently because various skull characters are thought to indicate plesiosauroid, rather than pliosauroid, affinities for this family. New data on the cranial anatomy of polycotylid plesiosaurs is presented, and is shown to compare closely to the structure of cryptocleidoid plesiosaurs. The morphology of known polycotylid taxa is reported and discussed, and a preliminary phylogenetic analysis is used to establish ingroup relationships of the Cryptocleidoidea. This study also presents new material referable to Polycotylus latipinnis from the Mooreville Chalk Formation of Alabama. This skeleton is largely …

The Vertebrate Fauna Of The Upper Permian Of Niger. Iv. Nigerpeton Ricqlesi (Temnospondyli: Cochleosauridae), And The Edopoid Colonization Of Gondwana, J. Sebastien Steyer, Ross Damiani, Christian A. Sidor, F. Robin O’Keefe, Hans C.E. Larsson, Abdoulaye Maga, Oumarou Ide

F. Robin O’Keefe

We describe the edopoid temnospondyl Nigerpeton ricqlesi from the Upper Permian Moradi Formation of northern Niger on the basis of two partial skulls and tentatively associated postcranial material. This crocodile-like taxon displays several edopoid characters states such as a long prenarial region with enlarged premaxillae, elongated vomers, large, posteriorly tapering choanae, and a jugal that broadens anteriorly. Nigerpeton possesses a unique carnivorous dentition. It is autapomorphic in its possession of an extremely elongate snout bearing a maxillary bulge that accommodates three hypertrophied caniniform teeth, inner premaxillary tusks, and anterior paired fenestrae, which pierce the skull roof. In addition, both the …

Trials Of The Urban Ecologist, Rebecca W. Dolan, Tim Carter, Travis J. Ryan, Carmen M. Salsbury, Thomas E. Dolan, Marjorie Hennessy

Rebecca W. Dolan

A group of scientists describe some of the obstacles encountered and insights gained while carrying out ecological research in and around the city of Indianapolis.

Two Modal Action Patterns With A Continuous Temporal Distribution, Alan B. Bond, George W. Barlow, William Rogers

Alan B. Bond

Most methods of quantitative analysis of animal behavior assume that action patterns can be unambiguously classified into discrete, exclusive categories. This is not invariably the case. The digging behavior of the Midas cichlid (Cichlasoma citrinellum), for example, exhibits two functionally distinct modalities, scoop and pi&, that intergrade continuously in form but are separable probabilistically. We present a technique for analyzing such behaviors that provides a reliable basis for formulating and verifying categories and allows a quantitative assessment of functional dissimilarity. Die meisten Methoden quantitativer Verhaltensanalysen setzen eindeutige Klassifizierung der Verhaltensweisen in sich wechselseitig ausschlieißende Kategorien voraus. Die sind aber nicht …

Searching Image In Blue Jays: Facilitation And Interference In Sequential Priming, Alan B. Bond, Alan C. Kamil

Alan B. Bond

Repeated exposure to a single target type (sequential priming) during visual search for multiple cryptic targets commonly improves performance on subsequent presentations of that target. It appears to be an attentional phenomenon, a component of the searching image effect. It has been argued, however, that if searching image is an attentional process, sequential priming should also interfere with performance on subsequent nonprimed targets, and such interference has never been unequivocally demonstrated. In blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) searching in an operant apparatus for targets derived from images of cryptic moths, detection performance was strongly facilitated in the course of a sequential …

The Transmission Of Learned Behavior: An Observational Study Of Father-Child Interactions During Fishing, Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond

Alan B. Bond

Mechanisms of transmission of learned behavior were described in terms of the behavioral interactions between fathers and their children as they fished from a pier on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Verbal and nonverbal behaviors were analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis and the patterns of association in the behavioral repertoire were described in detail. Groupings of associated behaviors ranged from clusters suggestive of modeling or simple showing to complex combinations of behaviors involved in teaching. There were indications that the transmission behaviors varied with the content of the transmitted information and the role of the performer. Role differentiation in the transmission behaviors …

Toward A Resolution Of The Paradox Of Aggressive Displays: I. Optimal Deceit In The Communication Of Fighting Ability, Alan Bond

Alan B. Bond

One inference from game theory models of animal conflict is that adversaries should not inform one another about concealed components of their fighting ability. This poses a paradox for the customary ethological account of aggressive displays in that it is usually assumed that the primary function of such behavior is to make such information available. To resolve the paradox, I propose that the information in aggressive displays may not be strictly truthful, but may instead represent "optimal deceit," a balance between the advantages of deceit or bluffing and the disadvantages of selecting for skepticism in the receiver. Numerical simulation of …

Population Estimates Of Kea In Arthur's Pass National Park, Alan B. Bond, Judy Diamond

Alan B. Bond

The population dynamics of a local group of Kea (Nestor notabilis) was studied at a refuse dump in Arthur's Pass National Park over the course of three successive summers. The mean number of buds that foraged at the dump during the summer was estimated as 20 juveniles, 10 subadults, and 36 adults. An average of 11% of these birds were females. The number of adults was quite stable across years. The total population of Kea in this area was estimated to be between 88 and 119, or in the order of 0.018 to 0.040 buds per hectare. Mortality did not …

Food Deprivation And The Regulation Of Meal Size In Larvae Of Chrysopa Carnea, Alan B. Bond

Alan B. Bond

The course of repletion and the effects of food deprivation on meal size were explored in three experiments on larvae of Chrysopa carnea (Neuroptera). Feeding to repletion was found to occur within the first 30 min of exposure to food. Meal size increased as an ogival function of deprivation, up to the limit of gut capacity. Behavioral components involved in the initiation of feeding were little affected by deprivation and did not appear to be inhibited by distention of the gut. Termination of a meal may be mediated by the stimulation of prey-release behavior, rather than by inhibition of feeding.

Apostatic Selection By Blue Jays Produces Balanced Polymorphism In Virtual Prey, Alan B. Bond, Alan Kamil

Alan B. Bond

Apostatic selection, in which predators overlook rare prey types while consuming an excess of abundant ones, has been assumed to contribute to the maintenance of prey polymorphisms. Such an effect requires predators to respond to changes in the relative abundance of prey, switching to alternatives when a focal prey type becomes less common. Apostatic selection has often been investigated using fixed relative proportions of prey, but its effects on predator–prey dynamics have been difficult to demonstrate. Here we report results from a new technique that incorporates computer-generated displays into an established experimental system, that of blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) hunting …

Social Play In Kaka (Nestor Meridionalis) With Comparisons To Kea (Nestor Notabilis), Judy Diamond, Alan B. Bond

Alan B. Bond

Social play in the kaka (Nestor meridionalis), a New Zealand parrot, is described and contrasted with that of its closest relative, the kea (Nestor notabilis), in one of the first comparative studies of social play in closely related birds. Most play action patterns were clearly homologous in these two species, though some contrasts in the form of specific play behaviors, such as kicking or biting, could be attributed to morphological differences. Social play in kakas is briefer, more predictable, and less sequentially diverse than that shown by keas. Kaka play also appears to be restricted to fledglings and juveniles, while …

The Geometry Of Foraging Patterns: Components Of Thoroughness In Random Searching, Alan B. Bond

Alan B. Bond

A Monte Carlo simulation of the movements of a randomly-searching predator was used to develop a novel geometrical measure, the "thoroughness" of the search, and to investigate the effects of meander, turn asymmetry, and path length. Thoroughness varied directly with the meander and the square of the asymmetry measure and remained relatively invariant with path length. The regularity of its relationship to the generating parameters of the search and the ease with which it may be estimated from field data recommend thoroughness for use in characterizing empirical search patterns and in testing for the occurrence of systematic searching.

Sexual Dimorphism In The Kea Nestor Notabilis, Alan B. Bond, Kerry-Jayne Wilson, Judy Diamond

Alan B. Bond

Morphological differences between the sexes in Keas Nestor notabilis were quantified from a sample of 86 sexed museum specimens, nine sexed zoo captives and 129 live, wild-caught birds. The results demonstrate that Kea are sexually dimorphic. Males are about 5% larger than females in linear measurements of body size and their upper bills are on average 12-14% longer, with a slightly larger radius of curvature. The dimorphism in bill size was statistically independent of the difference in overall body size, suggesting the possibility of intersexual differences in niche utilisation. Culmen length appears to be a useful means for distinguishing sexes …