Biodiversity Commons^™

The Envenoming Pandemic And The Misguided Views Of Snakes: Developing Sustainable Relationships Between Native Poisonous Snakes Of India And The Citizens Of Maharashtra Through The Use Of The Irula Model., Destiny Villanueva

Animal Science

Due to its vast population and general negative consensus regarding snakes, India is notorious for having more snakebite incidents than any other country. Snakes are simultaneously revered and feared in Indian religion and culture. This stigma is perpetuated through propaganda, family beliefs, and innate fears of snakes.These stigmas are more pronounced within rural areas, such as the region of Mahad within the state of Maharshtra. Envenoming is endemic in these areas, and others like them. The World Health Organization identified envenoming as one of the most neglected tropical diseases of the 21st century (Nature India, 2013). Additionally, both nonvenomous and …

Integrating, Developing, And Testing Methods To Generate More Cohesive Approaches To Biogeographic Inference, Mallory Elizabeth Eckstut

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As a fundamental component of the developing discipline of conservation biogeography, broadscale analyses of biotic assembly and disassembly across multiple temporal and spatial scales provide an enhanced understanding of how geologic transformations and climate oscillations have shaped extant patterns of biodiversity. As with any scientific field, there are limitations in the case of biogeographic historical reconstructions. Historical reconstructions are only as robust as the theoretical underpinnings of the methods of reconstruction (including data collection, quality, analysis, and interpretation). Nevertheless, historical reconstructions of species distributions can help inform our understanding of how species respond to environmental change.

My dissertation takes a …

A Reassessment Of The Conservation Status Of A Critically Endangered Neotropical Frog, Mannophryne Olmonae, Using Occupancy Modeling Techniques, Jessica Mcquigg

Senior Independent Study Theses

Amphibian species worldwide are threatened with decline and extinction, making species monitoring an important scientific endeavor. The Bloody Bay Poison Frog, Mannophryne olmonae, a Tobago island endemic, was identified as critically endangered by the IUCN in 2004. Recent evidence suggests that a less severe conservation status may be appropriate for M. olmonae. This study employs acoustic calling surveys, land-use information, and multi-year (2011 and 2012) occupancy modeling techniques to propose an appropriate conservation status for this species. This study suggests that M. olmonae occupies a larger geographic range than was previously thought, and is not experiencing population declines. …