Biodiversity Commons^™

Assessing Changes In Avian Communities, Jessie D. Golding

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Grazing is a potentially powerful tool to address wildlife declines associated with land use conversion in the western United States. Grazing systems can be manipulated to achieve desired vegetation outcomes, preserve native habitat and economically benefit multiple stakeholders. As a result, systems designed to benefit native ecosystems are being widely implemented. However, the benefits of these grazing systems on many wildlife communities remain relatively unexplored. Songbirds provide an ideal study system to test these benefits because they continue to use native habitat that is currently grazed. Given limited time and resources, conservation practitioners often monitor a single focal species or …

Systematics Of The African River Frog Genus Amietia (Anura: Pyxicephalidae) From Eastern Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Thornton Robert Larson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The African river frog genus Amietia is found near rivers and other lentic water sources throughout central, eastern and southern Africa. Because the genus includes multiple morphologically conservative species, taxonomic studies of river frogs have been limited. We sampled 49 individuals of Amietia from multiple localities in and near the Albertine Rift (AR) of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. We utilized single-gene (16S) and concatenated (12S, 16S, cytochrome b and RAG1) gene-tree analyses and coalescent species-tree analyses to construct phylogenetic trees. Two divergence dating approaches were used in BEAST, including secondary calibration points with 12S, 16S and …

Phylogeny And Systematics Of Panaspis And Afroablepharus Skinks (Squamata: Scincidae) In The Savannas Of Sub-Saharan Africa, Maria Fernanda Medina

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

African snake-eyed skinks are relatively small lizards of the genera Panaspis and Afroablepharus. The allocation of these genera was frequently rearranged in the 20th century based on morphology, ecology and biogeography. Members of these genera occur primarily in savanna habitats throughout sub-Saharan Africa and include species that have highly conserved morphology, which poses a challenge for taxonomic studies. We sequenced two mitochondrial (16S and cyt b) and two nuclear genes (PDC and RAG1) from 91 Panaspis and Afroablepharus samples from various localities in eastern, central and southern Africa. Concatenated gene-tree and divergence dating analyses were conducted to infer phylogenies and …

Taxonomy And Molecular Epidemiology Of Echinococcus Granulosus Sensu Lato, Thomas Romig, Dennis Ebi, Marion Wassermann

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Echinococcus granulosus, formerly regarded as a single species with a high genotypic and phenotypic diversity, is now recognized as an assemblage of cryptic species, which differ considerably in morphology, development, host specificity (including infectivity/pathogenicity for humans) and other aspects. This diversity is reflected in the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes and has led to the construction of phylogenetic trees and hypotheses on the origin and geographic dispersal of various taxa. Based on phenotypic characters and gene sequences, E. granulosus (sensu lato) has by now been subdivided into E. granulosus sensu stricto (including the formerly identified genotypic variants G1-3), …

Evolution Of Hematophagous Habit In Triatominae (Heteroptera: Reduviidae), Fernando Otálora-Luna, Antonio J. Pérez-Sánchez, Claudia Sandoval, Elis Aldana

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

All members of Triatominae subfamily (Heteroptera: Reduviidae), potential vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, etiologic agent of the Chagas disease, feed on blood. Through evolution, these bugs have fixed special morphological, physiological, and behavioral aptations (adaptations and exaptations) adequate to feed on blood. Phylogeny suggests that triatomines evolved from predator reduvids which in turn descended from phytophagous hemipterans. Some pleisiomorphic traits developed by the reduvid ancestors of the triatomines facilitated and modeled hematophagy in these insects. Among them, mouthparts, saliva composition, enzymes, and digestive symbionts are the most noticeable. However, the decisive step that allowed the shift from predation to hematophagy …

Evaluation Of A Formula That Categorizes Female Gray Wolf Breeding Status By Nipple Size, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The proportion by age class of wild Canis lupus (Gray Wolf) females that reproduce in any given year remains unclear; thus, we evaluated the applicability to our long-term (1972–2013) data set of the Mech et al. (1993) formula that categorizes female Gray Wolf breeding status by nipple size and time of year. We used the formula to classify Gray Wolves from 68 capture events into 4 categories (yearling, adult non-breeder, former breeder, current breeder). To address issues with small sample size and variance, we created an ambiguity index to allow some Gray Wolves to be classed into 2 categories. We …

Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus) Dyad Monthly Association Rates By Demographic Group, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Preliminary data from GPS-collared wolves (Canis lupus) in the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota indicated wolves had low association rates with packmates during summer. However, aerial-telemetry locations of very high frequency (VHF)-radioed wolves in this same area showed high associations among packmates during winter. We analyzed aerial-telemetry-location data from VHF-collared wolves in several packs (n=18 dyads) in this same area from 1994-2012 by month, and found lowest association rates occurred during June. While other studies have found low association among wolf packmates during summer, information on differences in association patterns depending on the wolf associates’ demographics is …

Yellowstone Wolf (Canis Lupus) Density Predicted By Elk (Cervus Elaphus) Biomass, L. David Mech, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The Northern Range (NR) of Yellowstone National Park (YNP) hosts a higher prey biomass density in the form of elk (Cervus elaphus L., 1758) than any other system of gray wolves (Canis lupus L., 1758) and prey reported. Therefore, it is important to determine whether that wolf–prey system fits a long-standing model relating wolf density to prey biomass. Using data from 2005 to 2012 after elk population fluctuations dampened 10 years subsequent to wolf reintroduction, we found that NR prey biomass predicted wolf density. This finding and the trajectory of the regression extend the validity of the model …

First Report Of The Herb Field Mouse, Apodemus Uralensis (Pallas, 1811) From Mongolia, Setev Shar, Nyamsuren Batsaikhan, Dietrich Dolch, Scott Gardner, Ottmar Kullmer, V. S. Lebedev, Davaa Lkhagvasuren, Ulrike Menz, Ravchig Samiya, Michael Stubbe, Нermann Ansorge

Scott L. Gardner Publications

The herb field mouse, Apodemus uralensis (Pallas, 1811) is recorded for the first time in Mongolia, from western part of the Mongolian Altai and the adjacent Mongolian part of the Dzungarian Gobi. In addition, we discovered several additional fi ndings of this species recorded as early as 1976 from different scientific collections. Body and skull measurements are presented along with a molecular genetic analysis of one specimen.

Phylogenetic And Fossil Evidence For A Common Body Size Attractor In Marine Mammals, William Gearty, Jonathan Payne

School of Biological Sciences: Presentations

Evolutionary transitions between terrestrial and aquatic habitats are rare and often have large effects on the evolutionary trajectory of the clade making the transition. Following a single transition from the marine realm to the terrestrial realm, tetrapods have subsequently re-evolved a marine lifestyle at least 30 separate times. At least six of these re-invasions of the water occurred within crown-group mammals and four [sirenians (Sirenia), whales (Cetacea), pinnipeds (Pinnipedia), and otters (Lutrinae)] clades are extant. Although marine mammals are widely known to be larger than their terrestrial sister groups, the extent to which the body size evolution of these clades …

Hymenolepis Folkertsi N. Sp. (Eucestoda: Hymenolepididae) In The Oldfield Mouse Peromyscus Polionotus (Wagner) (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Neotominae) From The Southeastern Nearctic With Comments On Tapeworm Faunal Diversity Among Deer Mice, Arseny A. Makarikov, Todd N. Nims, Kurt E. Galbreath, Eric P. Hoberg

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

A previously unrecognized species of hymenolepidid cestode attributable to Hymenolepis is described based on specimens in Peromyscus polionotus, oldfield mouse, from Georgia, United States, near the southeastern coast of continental North America. Specimens of Hymenolepis folkertsi n. sp. differ from those attributed to most other species in the genus by having testes arranged in a triangle and a scolex with a prominent rostrum-like protrusion. The newly recognized species is further distinguished by the relative position and length of the cirrus sac, shape of seminal receptacle, and relative size of external seminal vesicle and seminal receptacle. Hymenolepidid cestodes have sporadically …

A New Laelapine Mite (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) Associated With The Spiny Rodent, Scolomys Melanops, In Amazonian Peru, Donald Gettinger, Scott L. Gardner

Scott L. Gardner Publications

Gigantolaelaps scolomys Gettinger and Gardner n. sp., an ectoparasitic mite (Acari: Laelapidae) associated with the rodent Scolomys melanops in Amazonian forests of Peru, is described and illustrated.

Mites of the genus Gigantolaelaps Fonseca are common ectoparasites associated exclusively with rodents of the sigmodontine tribe Oryzomyini (see Gettinger, 1987). They are often abundant in the dorsal pelage and are easily collected by brushing the host at capture. The laelapine populations sampled are female dominant; males and immatures are assumed to live within the nest of the host (Martins-Hatano et al., 2011). A new species was encountered in a small collection of …

Helmintos Parásitos De Fauna Silvestre En Las Costas De Guerrero, Oaxaca Y Chiapas, México, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Scott Monks, Jorge Falcón-Ordaz, Juan Violante-González

Estudios en Biodiversidad

La costa sureste del Pacífico en México es rica en biodiversidad, en parte por la posición en la intersección de las corrientes oceánicas ecuatoriales. Sin embargo, los helmintos son un grupo de organismos que ha sido poco estudiado en la región y los registros están en diversas fuentes de información. El propósito de este trabajo es juntar todos los registros de las diferentes especies de hemintos en uno solo. Los registros publicados de helmintos parásitos de vertebrados de la zona incluyen 192 especies de Digenea, Monogenea, Cestoda, Acanthocephala, Nematoda e Hirudinea. Los Digenea son los mejor representados con 34 familias …

Revisión Bibliográfica De Algunos Términos Ecológicos Usados En Parasitología, Y Su Aplicación En Estudios De Caso, Christian Elizbeth Bautista-Hernández, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Amado Erick Rodríguez-Ibarra

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de los términos ecológicos usados en parasitología, de acuerdo con Margolis et al. (1982), Esch et al. (1990), Bush et al. (1997), Bush et al. (2001) y Zander, (2001), que hasta 1982 era un conflicto en parasitología, ya que a que no existían conceptos establecidos para esta área del conocimiento, debido a que esta disciplina se enfocaba principalmente en investigaciones médicas. Aunado a esto, se incurría en conflictos con los conceptos ecológicos como hábitat, sitio, localidad entre otros de igual valor. Con base en lo anterior Margolis et al. (1982) propusieron el desarrollo de nuevos …

Revisión Del Uso De Céstodos Como Indicadores De Contaminación Por Metales Pesados En Mamíferos De Medios Terrestres, Jorge Falcón-Ordaz, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores

Estudios en Biodiversidad

En México son pocos los estudios realizados con invertebrados para conocer la concentración de metales pesados en el ambiente, los primeros trabajos fueron realizados con organismos acuáticos. Sin embargo, la necesidad de conocer la contaminación ambiental en medios terrestres ha llevado a los investigadores a utilizar otras herramientas, por ejemplo los helmintos, que se utilizan como bioindicadores de contaminación ambiental basados en su capacidad de absorción, y concentración de contaminantes del medio en su cuerpo. El uso de bioindicadores es ventajoso y económico comparado con el análisis directo de contaminantes por que solo las fracciones que están biológicamente disponibles son …

Nuevos Registros Y Redescripción De Rhabdochona Xiphophori Caspeta-Mandujano, Moravec Y Salgado- Maldonado, 2001 (Nematoda: Rhabdochonidae) En El Estado De Hidalgo, México, Jorge Falcón-Ordaz, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Christian Elizbeth Bautista-Hernández, Sarahi Hernández-Hernández

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Teniendo en cuenta la diversidad de los ecosistemas acuáticos en México y la infinita riqueza de especies de peces en el país, la lista actual de nemátodos parásitos de peces de agua dulce en México está incompleta. Hasta la fecha en México el género Rhabdochona se encuentra registrado como parásito en una amplia gama de familias de peces de agua dulce. El objetivo del presente trabajo es redescribir ejemplares de Rhabdochona xiphophori parásita de Xiphophorus malinche colectados de dos localidades del estado de Hidalgo y compararlos morfológicamente.

Importancia De Las Aves Ictiófagas Como Hospederos Finales De Helmintos, En Dos Lagunas Costeras Del Estado De Guerrero, México, Juan Violante-González, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Scott Monks, Agustín A. Rojas-Herrera, Miguel A. Melo-García, Sergio García-Ibáñez, Edgar León Esparza-Ibarra, Edvino Larumbe-Morán, Jonatan Carbajal-Violante

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Se examinó la composición y riqueza de comunidades de helmintos en tres especies de aves ictiófagas: Ardea alba, Nyctanassa violacea y Phalacrocorax brasilianus en dos lagunas costeras del estado de Guerrero, México. La helmintofauna estuvo constituida por 23 especies: 17 digéneos, un acantocéfalo, dos céstodos y tres nemátodos. Cinco especies (Ascocotyle longa, Mehrastomum minutum, Riberoia ondatrae, Southwellina hispida y Contracaecum multipapillatum) co-ocurrieron en las tres especies de aves de ambas lagunas. Los niveles de infección de un 50% de las especies identificadas, variaron significativamente entre las especies de aves y lagunas. A nivel componente, la riqueza de especies varió significativamente …

Evaluación De Las Infracomunidades De Tres Especies De Peces En Dos Localidades De La Huasteca Hidalguense, Christian Elizbeth Bautista-Hernández, Scott Monks, Griselda Pulido-Flores

Estudios en Biodiversidad

Uno de los problemas más severos y menos controlados en México es el gran número de especies introducidas en las cuencas del país, hecho que pone en peligro la existencia de muchas de las especies endémicas. Además, las especies introducidas pueden transportar sus parásitos, que con frecuencia afectan a las poblaciones de especies endémicas. Anteriormente se realizó un estudio de las comunidades de parásitos de tres especies de peces, dos endémicas y una exótica (Xiphophorus birchmanni, Pseudoxiphophorus bimaculata y Amatitlania nigrofasciata). En ese trabajo se realizó el análisis de éstas comunidades evaluándolas a nivel infracomunidad, además se calculó la caracterización …

Parasitofauna De Peces De Lagunas Costeras Del Estado De Guerrero, México, Juan Violante-González, Griselda Pulido-Flores, Scott Monks, Agustín A. Rojas-Herrera, Jaime Salvador Gil-Guerrero, Sergio García-Ibáñez, Jonatan Carbajal-Violante

Estudios en Biodiversidad

No obstante que los parásitos representan un porcentaje muy importante de la biodiversidad global a nivel mundial, en muchas ocasiones son excluidos de estudios con este enfoque, debido principalmente a que han sido considerados durante muchos años, como simples agentes causantes de enfermedad. A partir de los datos obtenidos de varios estudios parasitológicos de peces y aves, efectuados en algunas lagunas costeras del estado de Guerrero a lo largo de varios años, se presenta un análisis global de la riqueza de la parasitofauna de peces, en estos altamente productivos y complejos sistemas acuáticos. La parasitofauna total estuvo constituida por 66 …

The European Union’S Potential Contribution To Protect Marine Biodiversity In The Changing Arctic: A Roadmap, Nengye Liu, Elizabeth Kirk

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article provides a roadmap for possible European Union (eu) action in the protection of marine biodiversity in the changing Arctic. First the eu’s competence in the Arctic is briefly introduced. Then the discussion turns to the eu’s potential external and internal actions in shipping, fisheries and offshore oil and gas operations that could possibly enhance the international legal regime for the protection of marine biodiversity in the Arctic. The eu’s role vis-à-vis the global biodiversity regime and cross-cutting measures under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are discussed together in the final part.