This study examined the evolution of horn size in female ungulates. The researchers tested three hypotheses: 1) Females in more exposed environments would have longer horns for predator defense; 2) Polygamous male species would have longer horns for competition; 3) Species with longer male horns would have stronger facial markings to accentuate their horns. Analyzing horn length data and habitat/behavioral traits of 43 bovid species, they found support for all three hypotheses. Females in more open habitats had longer horns, as did polygamous males, and only males showed a correlation between horn length and stronger facial markings. The results suggest horn size evolves in relation to predation risk and male-male competition in
Mosquitoes, as well as frogs, are closely associated with wetlands. They're both natural parts of the Australian ecosystem but mosquitoes can pack a potentially serious punch with regard to both nuisance-biting and mosquito-borne disease. This presentation was prepared for the ‘Habitat requirements and conservation management of protected frogs in Australia' as part of the Wetlands Education and Training Program at Sydney Olympic Park.
Morphological studies of Female Simulium damnosum s.l. in Akamkpa Local Gover...Premier Publishers
This study was carried out between February 2014 and January 2015 to investigate the morphology of Simulium damnosum s.l. populations along Kwa Falls and Rhoko river in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria, in relation to the strain of Onchocerca volvulus transmitted in the study area. Two fly boys working on shift of 6 hours captured Simulium flies settling on them for blood meals by inverting specimen vials over them. Simulium flies were preserved in 70% ethanol and transported to the Biological Science Laboratory of Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, for entomological studies. Of the 265 Simulium species studied, 29 species were identified as savanna-dwellers, 98 species as transition zone dwellers and 138 species as forest-dwellers. There was significant difference (p<0.001)>0.05) between blackflies from these rivers. Mean thorax/antenna ratios of 2.4143, 1.9673, and 2.033 were recorded for savanna dwellers, transition zone dwellers and forest species respectively. Based on the morphology of Simulium damnosum s.l. studied, it could be inferred that there are likely four Simulium sibling species related to Simulium sirbanum, S. squamosum, S. yahense and S. damnosum sensu stricto in the study area.
Mosquitoes, as well as frogs, are closely associated with wetlands. They're both natural parts of the Australian ecosystem but mosquitoes can pack a potentially serious punch with regard to both nuisance-biting and mosquito-borne disease. This presentation was prepared for the ‘Habitat requirements and conservation management of protected frogs in Australia' as part of the Wetlands Education and Training Program at Sydney Olympic Park.
Morphological studies of Female Simulium damnosum s.l. in Akamkpa Local Gover...Premier Publishers
This study was carried out between February 2014 and January 2015 to investigate the morphology of Simulium damnosum s.l. populations along Kwa Falls and Rhoko river in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria, in relation to the strain of Onchocerca volvulus transmitted in the study area. Two fly boys working on shift of 6 hours captured Simulium flies settling on them for blood meals by inverting specimen vials over them. Simulium flies were preserved in 70% ethanol and transported to the Biological Science Laboratory of Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, for entomological studies. Of the 265 Simulium species studied, 29 species were identified as savanna-dwellers, 98 species as transition zone dwellers and 138 species as forest-dwellers. There was significant difference (p<0.001)>0.05) between blackflies from these rivers. Mean thorax/antenna ratios of 2.4143, 1.9673, and 2.033 were recorded for savanna dwellers, transition zone dwellers and forest species respectively. Based on the morphology of Simulium damnosum s.l. studied, it could be inferred that there are likely four Simulium sibling species related to Simulium sirbanum, S. squamosum, S. yahense and S. damnosum sensu stricto in the study area.
Dealing with heterogeneous data to improve our knowledge of biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem function: perspectives from synthesis projects: presented by Liliana Ballesteros-Meija for ACTIAS (Global patterns of insect diversity, distribution and evolutionary distinctness - What can we learn from two of the best-documented families of moths?) at the sfécologie conference 2018.
more information on the group: http://www.cesab.org/index.php/fr/projets-en-cours/projets-2014/130-actias
This is the presentation by Dr. Rob Toonen of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, "What is Connectivity and Why Should you Care?" given during the Spring 2011 session of Ocean Awareness Training on Maui.
Age and Growth of Male and Female Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus in Volusia Bl...Jennifer Gooch
This PowerPoint presentation looks at my senior research presentation on the invasive species Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus, in Volusia Blue Spring, Florida. I discussed the implications that this species has had on this important ecosystem and addressed the methods which we used to have a greater understanding of how to better manage these species.
The First Confirmed At-Sea Sighting of Longman’s Beaked Whale (Indopacetus pa...Teresa Martin
The Longman's beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus) is a rare species that is thought to primarily inhabit deep waters in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. During a seismic survey in late 2014, a group of approximately twenty Longman's beaked whales were encountered in Kenyan waters. To our knowledge this was the first at-sea sighting for this species in the Kenyan Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) to date. Here we present information and identification photographs pertaining to this sighting.
Dealing with heterogeneous data to improve our knowledge of biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem function: perspectives from synthesis projects: presented by Liliana Ballesteros-Meija for ACTIAS (Global patterns of insect diversity, distribution and evolutionary distinctness - What can we learn from two of the best-documented families of moths?) at the sfécologie conference 2018.
more information on the group: http://www.cesab.org/index.php/fr/projets-en-cours/projets-2014/130-actias
This is the presentation by Dr. Rob Toonen of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, "What is Connectivity and Why Should you Care?" given during the Spring 2011 session of Ocean Awareness Training on Maui.
Age and Growth of Male and Female Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus in Volusia Bl...Jennifer Gooch
This PowerPoint presentation looks at my senior research presentation on the invasive species Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus, in Volusia Blue Spring, Florida. I discussed the implications that this species has had on this important ecosystem and addressed the methods which we used to have a greater understanding of how to better manage these species.
The First Confirmed At-Sea Sighting of Longman’s Beaked Whale (Indopacetus pa...Teresa Martin
The Longman's beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus) is a rare species that is thought to primarily inhabit deep waters in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. During a seismic survey in late 2014, a group of approximately twenty Longman's beaked whales were encountered in Kenyan waters. To our knowledge this was the first at-sea sighting for this species in the Kenyan Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) to date. Here we present information and identification photographs pertaining to this sighting.
The theory of rent: From Classical and Marxist approachAntara Chakrabarty
These slides discuss the Theory of Rent from Classical and Marxist approaches. However, it focuses mostly on the Ricardian derivations on Rent of Land.
Closing Keynote Presentation from the Financial Times Water Summit from Doug ...Ecolab
How can business achieve growth in an era of water scarcity? Ecolab is on the ground at more than one million customer locations globally and is seeing a mindset shift - business is starting to think of water as a contributor to value creation, and make proactive water management decisions before policy demands action. Current technology can significantly reduce industrial water use - a risk-adjusted price for water helps drive priority investments that save money and enable growth. Industrial automation and data analytics are providing much-needed insights. We can take action now to secure or future prosperity.
Genotyping of Human Lice Suggests MultipleEmergences of Body.docxbudbarber38650
Genotyping of Human Lice Suggests Multiple
Emergences of Body Lice from Local Head Louse
Populations
Wenjun Li1¤, Gabriel Ortiz1, Pierre-Edouard Fournier1, Gregory Gimenez1, David L. Reed2, Barry
Pittendrigh3, Didier Raoult1*
1 URMITE, UMR CNRS 6236, IRD 198, Université de la Méditerranée, Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France, 2 Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University
of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America, 3 Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of
America
Abstract
Background: Genetic analyses of human lice have shown that the current taxonomic classification of head lice (Pediculus
humanus capitis) and body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus) does not reflect their phylogenetic organization. Three
phylotypes of head lice A, B and C exist but body lice have been observed only in phylotype A. Head and body lice have
different behaviours and only the latter have been involved in outbreaks of infectious diseases including epidemic typhus,
trench fever and louse borne recurrent fever. Recent studies suggest that body lice arose several times from head louse
populations.
Methods and Findings: By introducing a new genotyping technique, sequencing variable intergenic spacers which were
selected from louse genomic sequence, we were able to evaluate the genotypic distribution of 207 human lice. Sequence
variation of two intergenic spacers, S2 and S5, discriminated the 207 lice into 148 genotypes and sequence variation of
another two intergenic spacers, PM1 and PM2, discriminated 174 lice into 77 genotypes. Concatenation of the four
intergenic spacers discriminated a panel of 97 lice into 96 genotypes. These intergenic spacer sequence types were
relatively specific geographically, and enabled us to identify two clusters in France, one cluster in Central Africa (where a
large body louse outbreak has been observed) and one cluster in Russia. Interestingly, head and body lice were not
genetically differentiated.
Conclusions: We propose a hypothesis for the emergence of body lice, and suggest that humans with both low hygiene
and head louse infestations provide an opportunity for head louse variants, able to ingest a larger blood meal (a required
characteristic of body lice), to colonize clothing. If this hypothesis is ultimately supported, it would help to explain why poor
human hygiene often coincides with outbreaks of body lice. Additionally, if head lice act as a reservoir for body lice, and that
any social degradation in human populations may allow the formation of new populations of body lice, then head louse
populations are potentially a greater threat to humans than previously assumed.
Citation: Li W, Ortiz G, Fournier P-E, Gimenez G, Reed DL, et al. (2010) Genotyping of Human Lice Suggests Multiple Emergences of Body Lice from Local Head
Louse Populations. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 4(3): e641. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000641
Editor: G.
Evolution of genetic variance-covariance structuer in animal.pptx
VLuce CNSM Poster
1. Victoria M. Luce1, Megan T. Wyman2, Theodore Stankowich1
1Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA 90840
2Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616
Evolution of Horn Size in Female Ungulates
Background
Artiodactyla is one of the most diverse Orders of terrestrial mammals, ranging in size
from small antelope to domestic cattle and can be found globally in a variety of
environments. Within this order, all male members of Family Bovidae (antelope, cows,
goats) have horns that are used, primarily, in competition over mates, and horns present
in females of some species are used primarily in defense against predators, as well as for
defending territories against other conspecific females. It remains unclear, however,
when females DO have horns, why the females of some species have horns that are
nearly equal in size to the males of their species, while others have horns that are much
smaller compared to the males of their species. Since males primarily use their horns for
fencing and defense, there may also be a correlation between male and female horn
lengths and their respective facial colorations.
We used horn measurements collected from literature and museum specimens and
natural history data collected from the literature to test three hypotheses:
1. Species that are under greater risk of predation by being more exposed in their
environment should have longer horns than species of females that are at less risk.
2. Males in species that are polygamous will have longer horns than males in
monogamous species.
3. Species with longer horns will also have stronger facemask coloration to accentuate
and draw attention to their weaponry.
Stankowich & Caro 2009:
Among Bovids, horns found on females of species that are EXPOSED in their environment
(openness of habitat x body size).
MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE
Methods
We collected horn length data from Groves & Grubb (2011) and supplemented it by
measuring the following on 1-6 skulls from each of 43 species at the LA Museum of
Natural History: Greatest Skull Length (Figure I), Horn Length, Horn Span, and Horn Tip-
to-Tip (Figure II). Following Stankowich & Caro (2009), we estimated Exposure for each
species as the product of shoulder height (collected from the literature) and habitat
openness. Openness of each possible habitat type was scored based upon the relative
cover and how far a prey would have to be to be spotted by a potential predator, and
then an average was taken for each species based on the types of habitats they live in.
Facial markings were scored from 0(least) to 5(most) based upon the presence of
contrasting colors and vertical markings that may accentuate the presence of horns. We
also scored each species mating system type, horn shape and texture, from previously
published literature. We corrected male and female horn length measures for body size
using the greatest skull length, and we calculated the ratio of Female to Male Horn length
as a measure of sexual dimorphism. A phylogenetic generalized least squares analysis was
used to estimate the effects of risk and monogamy on morphology and to account for the
relatedness of the species. A consensus phylogenetic tree of the Bovidae was taken from
10KTrees.
Figure I: Greatest Skull Length Measurements (grey) Figure II: Horn length (red),
Horn span (blue), and Horn
Tip-to-Tip Measurements
(green)
Discussion
The PGLS analysis of bovid species show that females tend to have longer horn lengths
when the species lives in more exposed environments while males of polygamous species
tend to have longer horn lengths. This suggests that the size of female horns is directly
proportional to the risk of predation in their environment: horns are useful antipredator
weapons and the more dangerous environment in which a species lives, the more energy
females should invest in weaponry to defend themselves and offspring. Males who have a
chance to woo multiple mates have longer horns to compete with rivals. Finally, males
but not females showed stronger facemask coloration when they had longer horns,
suggesting that facial markings are a visual signal to conspecifics to enhance the apparent
size of the headgear and intimidate rivals. Thus, all three hypotheses were supported by
the data.
The next step is to collect more data on group size and territoriality in these species and
test for effects of social behavior on horn length, particularly in females.
Acknowledgements
We thank Jim Dines and Dave Janiger at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History for
access to specimens, Colin Groves for advice on skull measurements, and Rita Collins for
assistance with measuring skulls.
Results
The data supports our hypothesis that females who reside in more open environments
and males that are polygamous will have greater horn lengths. We found a significant
positive correlation between exposure and the female horn length (Fig III, P=0.006). We
also found that females have horns of lengths similar more similar to males when they
are more exposed in their environment (Fig IV, P=0.001). There was also a significant
positive correlation between horn length in males and mating system, showing that
males will tend to have longer horns if they are polygamous (Fig V, P=0.013). Finally,
while we found no effect of horn length on facemask score in females (Fig VI, P=0.139),
males with longer horns had significantly stronger facemasks that accentuated horn
length (Fig VII, P=0.014).
Impala
Grant’s
Gazelle
Connochaetes taurinus Kobus kob
Muntiacus crinifrons
Tragelaphus
strepticeros
Nanger granti
Phylogenetic Tree of the Bovid species used in the analysis
Ammotragus lervia
0 1 2
3 4 5
Scoring key for face markings: 0 = no face markings, 5 = strong face markings accentuate horns
Examples of habitat types; each weighted 0 (closed) to 1 (open)
Desert
0.95
Savanna
0.7
Tropical Forest
0.1
Tundra
0.9
Temperate Grassland
0.8
Wetland
0.3
CorrectedFemaleHornLengthCorrectedMaleHornLength
MaleFaceMaskScore
Female:MaleHornLengthRatioFemaleFaceMaskScore
Exposure Exposure
Monogamous?
Yes No
Corrected Female Horn Length
Corrected Male Horn Length
Fig III
t = 0.304
P = 0.006
Fig IV
t = 3.534
P = 0.001
Fig V
t = -2.643
P = 0.013
Fig VI
t = 1.151
P = 0.139
Fig VII
t = 2.584
P = 0.014