Biodiversity Commons^™

American Eel (Anguilla Rostrata) And Other Fishes As Surveyed By Environmental Dna In The Bronx River And Hudson River Watershed, Sam C. Chin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mounting an effective response to the threats faced by freshwater fish may require expansions to aquatic biomonitoring in excess of what is feasible using the capture-based survey techniques currently relied upon by natural resource managers. Methods for analyzing environmental DNA (eDNA) are emerging as a minimally invasive and cost-effective approach for surveying fish and other organisms. By detecting taxon-specific DNA sequences recovered from environmental samples (e.g. water, sediment), eDNA methods are able to infer species presence from samples that can be collected rapidly with simple equipment. In many cases, eDNA detection rates of fish species have been shown to meet …

Forest Cover And Geographic Distance Influence Fine-Scale Genetic Structure Of Leaf-Toed Geckos In The Tropical Dry Forests Of Western Mexico, Connor M. French, Casey-Tyler Berezin, Isaac Overcast, Fausto R. Méndez De La Cruz, Saptarsi Basu, Roberto Lhemish Martínez Bernal, Robert W. Murphy, Michael J. Hickerson, Christopher Blair

Publications and Research

The biodiversity within tropical dry forests (TDFs) is astounding and yet poorly catalogued due to inadequate sampling and the presence of cryptic species. In the Mexican TDF, endemic species are common, and the landscape has been continually altered by geological and anthropogenic changes. To understand how landscape and environmental variables have shaped the population structure of endemic species, we studied the recently described species of leaf-toed gecko, Phyllodactylus benedettii, in coastal western Mexico. Using double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing data, we first explore population structure and estimate the number of ancestral populations. The results indicate a high degree of …

Vertebrate Scavenger Diversity And Ecosystem Services Along An Elevational Gradient In Central Nepal, Aishwarya Bhattacharjee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A growing number of studies recognize the ecological significance of vertebrate scavengers, and several species belonging to this diverse, functional guild are of high conservation importance around the globe. Studies on taxonomic and functional components of biodiversity often use elevation gradients to comprehensively examine patterns and drivers across multiple spatial scales. Yet, there are relatively few elevational studies on large vertebrates or multi-taxa guilds, and the related variation of their ecosystem services. In particular, scavenger research has largely focused on local-scale studies or regional/global comparisons of local-scale investigations. Moreover, these studies primarily consider taxonomic community characteristics and the patterns of …

The Insular Herpetofauna Of Mexico: Composition, Conservation, And Biogeographic Patterns, Juan Valentín Pliego‐Sánchez, Christopher Blair, Aníbal H. Díaz De La Vega‐Pérez, Víctor H. Jiménez‐Arcos

Publications and Research

We compile a Mexican insular herpetofaunal checklist to estimate endemism, conservation status, island threats, net taxonomic turnover among six biogeographic provinces belonging to the Nearctic and Neotropical regions, and the relationships between island area and mainland distance versus species richness. We compile a checklist of insular herpetofaunal through performing a literature and collection review. We define the conservation status according to conservation Mexican law, the Red List of International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Environmental Vulnerability Scores. We determine threat percentages on islands according to the 11 major classes of threats to biodiversity. We estimate the net taxonomic turnover …

Not Withering On The Evolutionary Vine: Systematic Revision Of The Brown Vine Snake (Reptilia: Squamata: Oxybelis) From Its Northern Distribution, Robert C. Jadin, Christopher Blair, Sarah A. Orlofske, Michael J. Jowers, Gilson A. Rivas, Laurie J. Vitt, Julie M. Ray, Eric N. Smith, John C. Murphy

Publications and Research

The genus Oxybelis currently is composed of four taxa despite numerous studies suggesting and describing multiple taxa within the O. aeneus complex. Here, we utilize a multilocus molecular dataset (i.e. cyt b, ND4, 12S, 16S, cmos, PRLR, 3663 bp) to conduct phylogenetic analyses to assess the evolutionary history of Oxybelis. Our molecular analyses find three major lineages of Oxybelis (i.e. O. aeneus complex, O. brevirostris, O. fulgidus complex) with a sister relationship between O. brevirostris and the O. aeneus complex to the exclusion of the O. fulgidus complex. More specifically, O. aeneus appears to harbor at least …

Cryptic Diversity In The Mexican Highlands: Thousands Of Uce Loci Help Illuminate Phylogenetic Relationships, Species Limits And Divergence Times Of Montane Rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalus ), Christopher Blair, Robert W. Bryson Jr, Charles W. Linkem, David Lazcano, John Klicka, John E. Mccormack

Publications and Research

With the continued adoption of genome‐scale data in evolutionary biology comes the challenge of adequately harnessing the information to make accurate phylogenetic inferences. Coalescent‐based methods of species tree inference have become common, and concatenation has been shown in simulation to perform well, particularly when levels of incomplete lineage sorting are low. However, simulation conditions are often overly simplistic, leaving empiricists with uncertainty regarding analytical tools. We use a large ultraconserved element data set (>3,000 loci) from rattlesnakes of the Crotalus triseriatus group to delimit lineages and estimate species trees using concatenation and several coalescent‐based methods. Unpartitioned and partitioned maximum …

Are Weevils Picky Eaters? Community Structure And Host Specificity Of Neotropical Saproxylic Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Jhunior A. Morillo

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract Primary saproxylic beetles play a major role in forest nutrient cycling and making deadwood accessible to other decomposers. Understanding beetle host preferences and patterns of community assembly is critical for their conservation, and for predicting which species might become invasive. This project aims to investigate the ecological and host specificity, as well as the community composition of curculionids in a mosaic of old-growth (OG) and secondary forest on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. The subfamily Scolytinae was expected to be the most species-rich and abundant. Ambrosia beetles were expected to have more generalist species than other curculionids. Old growth …

Flight Of The Freshwater Fish, Michael H. Wilson

Capstones

Michael H. Wilson

Capstone Abstract

December 27, 2016

Flight of the Freshwater Fish

The Hudson River provides for millions of people as a path for commercial and private transportation, a source of food and energy, and perhaps most importantly for many living in the tri-state area as a destination for recreation and relaxation. The most overlooked feature of the river is how the wildlife shows clear signs of a changing climate and rapid environmental response to the impacts of global warming on the river.

Entire populations of fish species in the lower Hudson have been forced to leave the river …

Phylogeny, Systematics And Biogeography Of Short-Tailed Opossums (Didelphidae: Monodelphis), Silvia E. Pavan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Short-tailed opossums (genus Monodelphis) comprise the most species-rich genus of New World marsupials, with 25 currently recognized species. Monodelphis comprise small, terrestrial species collectively widespread in South America, which makes the group potentially informative about biogeographic processes that have shaped the continental fauna. The genus exhibits striking variation in several phenotypic characters, notably pelage coloration, behavior, and reproductive strategies. This diversity is unique among Neotropical marsupials, and makes the group particularly interesting to investigate the evolution and the adaptive significance of phenotypic trait variation. Despite this potential, missing knowledge on phylogeny and basic taxonomy precludes broader studies on evolution …

Diversity-Dependent Cladogenesis Throughout Western Mexico: Evolutionary Biogeography Of Rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalinae: Crotalus And Sistrurus), Christopher Blair, Santiago Sánchez-Ramírez

Publications and Research

Rattlesnakes (Crotalus and Sistrurus) represent a radiation of approximately 42 species distributed throughout the New World from southern Canada to Argentina. Interest in this enigmatic group of snakes continues to accrue due, in part, to their ecomorphological diversity, contributions to global envenomations, and potential medicinal importance. Although the group has garnered substantial attention from systematists and evolutionary biologists for decades, little is still known regarding patterns of lineage diversification. In addition, few studies have statistically quantified broad-scale biogeographic patterns in rattlesnakes to ascertain how dispersal occurred throughout the New World, particularly among the different major biomes of the …

Historical And Contemporary Demography Of Leaf-Toed Geckos (Phyllodactylidae: Phyllodactylus) In The Mexican Dry Forest, Christopher Blair, Victor H. Jiménez Arcos, Fausto R. Méndez De La Cruz, Robert W. Murphy

Publications and Research

Disentangling the relative influence of historical versus contemporary processes shaping the spatial distribution of genetic variation is critical if we are to effectively mitigate key biodiversity issues. We utilize a comprehensive approach based on different molecular marker types and analytical methods to understand the demographic consequences of recent habitat fragmentation in a spatially explicit context. We focus our efforts on native leaf-toed geckos (Phyllodactylus tuberculosus saxatilis) throughout fragmented habitat in the tropical dry forest of northern Mexico as recent evidence suggests that geographic ranges for these geckos may be much smaller than currently realized. However, no data are …

Agalychnis Dacnicolor—Predation., Víctor H. Jiménez-Arcos, Eric Centenero-Alcala, Leopoldo D. Vázquez Reyes, Christopher Blair, Samuel A. Santa Cruz-Padilla

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Project Safe Flight: Making New York Safe For Migratory Birds, Kaitlyn L. Parkins, Susan B. Elbin Ph.D., Adriana Palmer, Darren Klein, Elle Barnes

Publications and Research

More than 100 species of migratory birds pass through New York City during spring and fall migrations. Located at the nexus of several migratory routes, New York City’s tall buildings and reflective glass pose a serious threat to over 100 species of migratory birds. Since 1997, NYC Audubon has led Project Safe Flight (PSF), a volunteer-based citizen-science project, with the goal of monitoring and mitigating bird collisions. We examined 16 years of PSF data, during which volunteers collected over 6,000 birds of 126 different species. The top two species, White-throated Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat, make up 23% of all collisions. …

Ecology Of The Malay Civet (Viverra Tangalunga) In A Logged And An Unlogged Forest In Sabah, East Malaysia, Christina P. Colon

Publications and Research

Malay civets in a dipterocarp rain forest were studied from December, 1995, through June, 1997, in the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve in Sabah, East Malaysia. To investigate the basic ecology of this species and explore the potential impact of selective logging, data on home range, activity and diet were collected on study animals in an unlogged and a selectively logged forest, and comparisons made.

Density in the unlogged forest was 1/0.46 km² , and 1/1.07 km² in the logged forest. Mean home range size based on a 95% minimum convex polygon was 110 ha. and did not differ …