2. 5 Characteristics of Living Things 1. Metabolic Processes Nutrient Uptake: Uses energy from the intake or eating of seeds and fruits of dune plants such as sea oats, bluestem, dune spurge, evening primrose, oaks, magnolias, and youpon hollies. Also eats invertebrates such as beetles when seeds are scarce, especially in the late winter or early spring. Nutrient Processing: Uses the nutrients from the food sources through chemical reactions to produce energy necessary to for movement, growth and to carry out other activities Waste elimination: Useless nutrient portions from the food sources are expelled from the mouse as waste in the form of urine and defecation.
3. 5 Characteristics of Living Things 2. Generative Processes Growth: Increases in size from birth to adult Reproduction: Beach mice are monogamous, meaning mated pairs stay together as long as they both live. Reaches sexual maturity by 6 weeks of age. Reproduction peak time is during November, December and January. The mice have between 2-7 offspring per littering averaging 3-4 babies and usually have about 3 litters a year. The average female is capable of producing a litter every 26 days and usually produces 80 or more young over her lifetime.
4. 5 Characteristics of Living Things 3. Responsive Processes Irritability: Has a rapid response to stimuli such as loud noises, predators, or threats and retreats into burrows Individual adaptation: Lighter-colored or pale fur to blend in with the habitat of sand dunes Population adaptation: Nocturnal to avoid predators during the day, digs underground burrows for protection, pale fur to camouflage
5. 5 Characteristics of Living Things 4. Control Processes Coordination: Chemical reactions within the beach mouse are coordinated and linked together in a specific pathway. Maintains an internal homeostasis. Internal activities occur at the right time. Regulation: Enzymes are produced in the beach mouse to increase and control the rate at which life’s chemical reactions occur. Maintains an internal homeostasis. Internal activities occur at the proper rate
6. 5 Characteristics of Living Things 5. Structural Similarities Beach mice are composed of eukaryotic cells with an outer cell membrane and internal organelles with specific functions. They consist of trillions of specialized cells that form an independently functioning organism. It has cells that make up tissues, which make up organs, which make up organ systems within the beach mouse
7. Specialized Cells or Structures The Choctawhatchee Beach mouse has a genetic mutation that produces a sand matching coat to help the it camouflage from sky predators. The single mutation that causes this color variation alters the melanocortin-1 receptor (Mc1r) that has been associated with the different colors of many mammals.
8. Specialized Cells This only appears in mice on the coast, not in mainland mice. The specialized cells make it easy for the beach mouse to blend in with the sugary white sand and evade predators.
10. Inherited Genetic Traits Allele for lighter coat color pattern (Mc1r) present in beach mice Controlled by single amino acid mutation in the melanocortin-1 receptor gene Beach mice are have much lighter fur when compared to mainland mice.
11. Unusual Genetic Issues Lighter coat color mutation leads to loss of genetic information Here you can see a Peromyscus DAPI-stained hair follicle with melanocytes stained in green. (Photo credit: Marie Manceau, Harvard)
13. Genetic conditions that prevent the beach mouse from thriving If moved to different environment besides the beach, lighter fur color would not be an advantage This mutation is considered a loss of ability to adapt to other environments
14. Forming of hybrids by interbreeding with other organisms Interbreeding with mainland Oldfield mice could produce a single species whose traits are a blend of the optimal adaptations for the range of habitats that both occupy. Many subspecies of the beach mouse exist and interbreeding makes it hard to identify the genetic differences of the subspecies (intra-specific crossbreeding) Interbreeding with other subspecies makes it hard to know what species is being protected
15. Ecosystem/Biome Restricted to coastal sand dune ecosystem Open sandy areas Dunes just above the high-tide line Choctawhatchee Beach mice live on Florida Gulf Coast
17. Niche Eats mainly seeds and fruits of plants that grow in the dunes Diet can include invertebrates such as beetles, especially in the spring and summer Prey to foxes, herons, owls, and snakes Feral cats also feed on the beach mouse
18. Food Web Distinction Classified as consumer (eats other living things to get energy) Specifically an omnivore (feeds on both plants and animals
19. Adaptations Over Time Nocturnal Digs underground burrows for protection Pale coloration of fur has developed Light coat color is said to be a product of natural selection: easier to camouflage with the light sand
20. Environmental Factors Feral cats living in or around the beach mouse habitat contribute to decline of species Hurricane Opal drowned many beach mice and severely degraded or destroyed much of the dune habitat in October of 1995 Estimated 75-80% of Choctawhatchee beach mice were killed from Opal
21. Human Impact on Ecosystem(Deliberate) Coastal real estate boom in Florida takes away suitable dune habitats 80% of the range of beach mice has been lost to development since 1940
22. Human Impact on Ecosystem(Inadvertent) Intensive recreational use destroyed habitats as well Erosion and loss of plants that help to stabilize the dunes due to vehicle and human traffic Survival depends on the conservation of preserving the dunes ecosystem
23. Laws and Protections to Help with Chance at Survival and Recovery Coastal Zone Development Plan Includes dune preservation to benefit the landowners and the mice Florida Coastal Setback Law: prohibited construction within set limits to protect Florida’s coastline has helped slightly Translocation program launched in 1987 by the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission (now called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) This involved the adding of beach mice to small, existing populations from larger groupings in hopes of increasing the numbers
24. What can you do? If you live in a beach community: Keep your cat indoors Do not feed stray cats as this will encourage permanent residency in beach mouse habitat Stay off of the dunes to help preserve the habitat Remain in designated visitor areas or on walkways Encourage the growth of native plants on the dunes and dune regeneration Educate others on the fascinating Choctawhatchee Beach mouse
25. Beach Mouse Tracks: Still here FOR NOW… Awarenessis the first step towards SURVIVAL for this unique and tiny species!
26. References A Single Amino Acid Mutation Contributes to Adaptive Beach Mouse Color Pattern. (2006, July 7). Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://notes.genotypic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=473&Itemid=57 An Evolution Saga: Beach Mice Mutate and Survive. (2006, July 7). Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://www.hhmi.org/news/hoekstra20060707.html Bird, B., Branch, L., & Hostetler, M. (2009, November). Beach Mice. Electronic Data Information Source of University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw173 Choctawhatchee beach mouse. (2000). Beach to Bay Connection. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://beachtobay.org/html/choctawhatchee_beach_mouse.htm Choctawhatchee beach mouse. (2004, August 9). Beachmouse.com. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://www.beachmouse.com Evolutionary and Ecological Genetics of Adaptation and Speciation. The Hoekstra Laboratory at Harvard. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/faculty/hoekstra/Links/ProjectsPage.html#Behavior Gibbons, W. (2002, October 28). Do We Know How Many Kinds of Animals There Are? University of Georgia. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://www.uga.edu/srel/ecoviews/ecoview021028.htm Purdom, G. (2006, August 23). Mutation leads to better survival in beach mice. Answers in Genesis. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v1/n1/evolution-or-adaptation
