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Biodiversity is vital to the welfare and survival of humans, but public support for conservation of most animal species is appallingly limited. Vertebrates make up less than 5% of the world’s docum...

Background Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) are replacing or supplementing manned aircraft and ground-based surveys in many animal monitoring situations due to better coverage at finer spatial and temporal resolutions, access, cost, bias, impacts, safety, efficiency, and logistical benefits. Various sUAS models and sensors are available with varying features and usefulness depending on survey goals. However, justification for selection of sUAS and sensors are not typically offered in published literature and existing reviews do not adequately cover past and current sUAS applications for animal monitoring nor their associated sUAS model and sensor technologies, taxonomic and geographic scope, flight conditions and considerations, spatial distributions of sUAS applications, and reported technical difficulties. We outline a systematic map protocol to collect and consolidate evidence pertaining to sUAS monitoring of animals. Our systematic map will provide a useful synthesis of current applications of sUAS-animal related studies and identify major knowledge clusters (well-represented subtopics that are amenable to full synthesis by a systematic review) and gaps (unreported or underrepresented topics that warrant additional primary research) that may influence future research directions and sUAS applications. Methods Our systematic map will investigate the current state of knowledge using an accurate, comprehensive, and repeatable search. We will find relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature as well as dissertations and theses using online publication databases, Google Scholar, and by request through a professional network of collaborators and publicly available websites. We will use a tiered approach to article exclusion with eligible studies being those that monitor (i.e., identify, count, estimate, etc.) terrestrial vertebrate animals. Extracted data concerning sUAS, sensors, animals, methodology, and results will be recorded in Microsoft Access. We will query and catalogue evidence in the final database to produce tables, figures, and geographic maps to accompany a full narrative review that answers our primary and secondary questions.

The highway infrastructures are a source of multiple environmental problems; one of the worst effects on wildlife is roadkill. Most of the research on roadkill has focused on how certain aspects, such as seasons, traffic density, and location of roadways, among others affect wildlife mortality on roads. However, little attention has been paid to understanding how the geometric design of roads affects wildlife mortality. On a highway in the Central Andes of Colombia, we investigated if the geometric design, specifically horizontal alignment and vertical curves of the road, influence the mortality of vertebrate animals on roadways. We determined the number of the straight lines, circular, transition curves, and vertical convex curves along the entire route of the highway (13.9 km), and from April 2018 to December 2019, we made 336 surveys in search of wildlife roadkill. We then investigated the relation of animal deaths to different road shapes. Out of 95 roadkill, reptile deaths made up 47% of the total. We found no dependence on the distribution of deaths by class of animals on the road shape; the shape in which most deaths occurred was a straight line (58 deaths). However, when the proportion of mortality events per meter was analysed on the shape units on the road, we found that circular and transition curves presented two and three times (respectively) a higher proportion of mortality events per meter than the straight lines. Roadkill hotspots were found in curved segments and were not associated only with riparian forest. The curved sections present more dangerous geometric designs than the straight lines for wildlife, regardless of their length on the road. Our research indicates that the relationship of the geometric design of roads needs to be considered in the development of management and conservation plans of altered ecosystems with the road infrastructure.

Leptospirosis is a disease that disproportionately affects impoverished urban communities, but is likely to become more prevalent as changing climate alters flooding regimes. The persistence and transmission of the Leptospira pathogen is reliant on small vertebrate animals, predominantly rodents. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Peterson et al. demonstrate how changes in rodent diversity and abundances across the complex mosaic of abandonment and recovery investment in post-Katrina New Orleans can predict zoonotic infection prevalence. Understanding the ecological conditions that support persistence and transmission of zoonotic pathogens in urban ecosystems, where they are most likely to affect humans, is critical to effective monitoring and prevention.

Author(s): Lockwood, JL; Welbourne, DJ; Romagosa, CM; Cassey, P; Mandrak, NE; Strecker, A; Leung, B; Stringham, OC; Udell, B; Episcopio-Sturgeon, DJ; Tlusty, MF; Sinclair, J; Springborn, MR; Pienaar, EF; Rhyne, AL; Keller, R | Abstract: The annual trade in exotic vertebrates as pets is a multi-billion-dollar global business. Thousands of species, and tens of millions of individual animals, are shipped both internationally and within countries to satisfy this demand. Most research on the exotic pet trade has focused on its contribution to native biodiversity loss and disease spread. Here, we synthesize information across taxa and research disciplines to document the exotic pet trade's contribution to vertebrate biological invasions. We show recent and substantial worldwide growth in the number of non-native animal populations introduced via this invasion pathway, which demonstrates a strong potential to increase the number of invasive animals in the future. Key to addressing the invasion threat of exotic pets is learning more about the socioeconomic forces that drive the massive growth in the exotic pet market and the socioecological factors that underlie pet release by owners. These factors likely vary according to cultural pet-keeping traditions across regions and whether purchases were legal or illegal. These gaps in our understanding of the exotic pet trade must be addressed in order to implement effective policy solutions.

Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases of humans caused by pathogens that are shared between humans and other vertebrate animals. Previously, pristine natural areas with high biodiversity were seen as likely sources of new zoonotic pathogens, suggesting that biodiversity could have negative impacts on human health. At the same time, biodiversity has been recognized as potentially benefiting human health by reducing the transmission of some pathogens that have already established themselves in human populations. These apparently opposing effects of biodiversity in human health may now be reconcilable. Recent research demonstrates that some taxa are much more likely to be zoonotic hosts than others are, and that these animals often proliferate in human-dominated landscapes, increasing the likelihood of spillover. In less-disturbed areas, however, these zoonotic reservoir hosts are less abundant and nonreservoirs predominate. Thus, biodiversity loss appears to increase the risk of human exposure to both new and established zoonotic pathogens. This new synthesis of the effects of biodiversity on zoonotic diseases presents an opportunity to articulate the next generation of research questions that can inform management and policy. Future studies should focus on collecting and analyzing data on the diversity, abundance, and capacity to transmit of the taxa that actually share zoonotic pathogens with us. To predict and prevent future epidemics, researchers should also focus on how these metrics change in response to human impacts on the environment, and how human behaviors can mitigate these effects. Restoration of biodiversity is an important frontier in the management of zoonotic disease risk.

Vertebrate animals can be injured or threatened with injury through human activities, thus warranting their "rescue." Details of wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, release, and associated research (our 4 Rs) are often recorded in large databases, resulting in a wealth of available information. This information has huge research potential and can contribute to understanding of animal biology, anthropogenic impacts on wildlife, and species conservation. However, such databases have been little used, few studies have evaluated factors influencing success of rehabilitation and/or release, recommended actions to conserve threatened species have rarely arisen, and direct benefits for species conservation are yet to be demonstrated. We therefore recommend that additional research be based on data from rescue, rehabilitation, and release of animals that is broader in scope than previous research and would have community support.

Malang Regency has a high potential for diversity of invertebrates and vertebrates, so it needs to be optimized as a learning resource. The purpose of this study was to analyze invertebrate and vertebrate animals based on the local potency of Malang Regency as a learning resource for animal diversity subjects in biology students at the Universitas Negeri Malang. Animal diversity subjects require learning resources as a reference that is used to teach the diversity of invertebrate and vertebrate animals based on their characteristics. This research was conducted in the southern Malang Regency in May-August 2019. The research design used the exploration method. The results of this exploration activity obtained a diversity of invertebrate and vertebrate species as many as 6 phyla namely Coelenterata, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Annelida, and Chordata; 13 classes; 29 orders; 42 families, 51 genera, and 55 species. This research can reveal the potency of invertebrate and vertebrate animals in the Malang Regency which can be used as learning resources in animal diversity subjects at Universitas Negeri.

Macrophages exist in most tissues and play a variety of functions in vertebrates. Teleost fish species are found in most aquatic environments throughout the world and are quite diverse for a group of vertebrate animals. Due to whole genome duplication and environmental adaptation, teleost monocytes/macrophages possess a variety of different functions and modulations compared with those of mammals. A deeper understanding of teleost monocytes/macrophages in the immune system will not only help develop teleost-specific methods of disease prevention but will also help improve our understanding of the various immune mechanisms in mammals. In this review, we summarize the differences in polarization and phagocytosis of teleost and mammalian macrophages to improve our understanding of the various immune mechanisms in vertebrates.

Prince Maximilian of Wied made important collections of reptiles and other vertebrate animals during pioneering expeditions to Brazil and North America. These were purchased for the American Museum in 1869. The present paper emphasizes Brazilian materials collected in 1815–1817. Prince Maximilian (aka Wied, Neuwied, and Prince Max) published extensively on this collection, especially in the Beitrage zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien (“Contributions to the natural history of Brazil, 1825–1833”)—a meticulous account of the species collected—and in Abbildungen zur Naturgeschichte Brasiliens (“Illustrations of the natural history of Brazil, 1822–1832”). The unnumbered folio plates of the Abbildungen are so important, and so difficult to access, that the herpetological ones are resized and reprinted herein. These hand-colored plates are rare (only 300 of each were produced) and are reproduced herein “as is” with arbitrary plate numbers 1–56; this numbering approximates the organization of the present ...

Amphibians are strongly affected by climate change like many vertebrate animals. To address this problematic situation, we examined the potential effect of climate change on the distribution of Mertensiella caucasica (Waga, 1876) that is the best known species in Caucasus hotspot using future distribution modelling (average for 2041–2060 and 2061–2080) under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 emission scenarios. According to our model, the future distribution showed a remarkable expansion towards the northwest part of the Greater Caucasus whereas it indicated a regression from the West of the western Lesser Caucasus up to the Greater Caucasus. Our results indicated that most habitat loss seems to occur in the West Lesser Caucasus including the northeast of Turkey and the East Lesser Caucasus. Moreover, habitat suitability for M. caucasica showed trends towards local extinction in the future. In the Caucasus hotspot, the expected distribution range of M. caucasica will decrease with the risk of local extinction. Therefore, we recommend that its status in IUCN Red List should be reconsidered again.

Birds are among the most diverse and widely distributed groups of vertebrate animals. There are well over 10,000 recognized species alive today, occupying virtually every subaerial ecosystem (1). The amazing breadth of extant bird diversity is manifested in dizzying varieties of forms, colors, and lifestyles, ranging from iridescent, hovering, nectar-feeding hummingbirds to nocturnal, flightless, worm-eating kiwis. How, when, and why has this spectacular diversity arisen? The only direct evidence informing such questions can be obtained from the fossil record of the modern bird radiation, but the early fossil record of modern birds is exceedingly sparse. In PNAS, Ksepka et al. (2) help to improve our understanding of this pivotal interval of bird evolutionary history by reporting the discovery of a new fossil bird filling an important temporal gap. The fossil, Tsidiiyazhi abini (derived from the Navajo Dine Bizaad language for “little morning bird”) is indeed little, because the specimen was collected within a 25-cm × 25-cm grid from fossil beds in the San Juan basin of New Mexico. In fact, Tsidiiyazhi ’s broad evolutionary implications are far from obvious from a casual glance at its broken and incomplete skeleton. However, thanks to careful and detailed anatomical work, Ksepka et al. (2) demonstrate that this tiny fossil bird punches well above its weight in helping to elucidate the nature and timing of the modern bird radiation. Attempts to correlate the geological time scale with important events early in modern bird evolutionary history are often controversial (3⇓–5). Still, recent studies integrating the fossil record and molecular clock techniques suggest an extremely rapid radiation of the major avian subclade Neoaves in the aftermath of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction that wiped out the nonavian dinosaurs, 66 million years ago (Ma) (6, 7). Today, Neoaves comprises over 90% of living … [↵][1]1Email: d.j.field{at}bath.ac.uk. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Harding grass (Phalaris aquatica), an invasive non-native species of bunchgrass, has been introduced to grasslands in many regions of California, particularly those with a history of disturbance, such as tilling and grazing. Due do the invasive nature of Harding grass, we sought to examine whether it has an effect on small animal abundance and diversity in the grasslands, Rancho Marino Reserve (RM) and Fiscalini Ranch Preserve (FR) in California. Both grasslands have similar climate and geographic location but differ in management history. Two transects were created in each site, with eight plots per transect. Animal cameras were deployed over the course of three nights to examine the abundance and diversity of small animals. Due to the history of tilling and planting of RM, and its increase in P. aquatica coverage, there was less animal abundance and diversity compared to FR. The results indicated that the untilled/unplanted areas had more animal abundance and diversity compared to tilled/planted due to the lack of Harding Grass. This can be due to factors such as diminished soil quality, difficulty in maneuvering in the tall grass, and adaptability to native vegetative state. Invasive plants have the ability to increase rapidly in space and potentially lead to ecosystem degradation. This adds further knowledge in the relationship between small animals and their habitats and helps conservation biologists ensure mammalian populations remain stable.

1. Over the past decade, there has been a substantial increase in interest in the immune system and the role it plays in the regulation of disease susceptibility, giving rise to the field of eco-immunology. 2. Eco-immunology aims to understand changes in host immune responses in the broader framework of an organism's evolutionary, ecological and life-history contexts. 3. The immune system, however, is complex and multifaceted and can be intimidating for the nonimmunologist interested in incorporating immunological questions into their research. Which immune responses should one measure and what is the biological significance of these measures? 4. The focus of this review is to describe a wide range of eco-immunology techniques, from the simple to the sophisticated, with the goal of providing researchers with a range of options to consider incorporating in their own research programs. 5. These techniques were chosen because they provide relatively straightforward, biologically meaningful assessments of immune function, many of which can be performed across a range of ecological contexts (i.e. field vs. laboratory) and in a wide range of vertebrate animals without relying on species-specific reagents. 6. By incorporating assessments of immune function into their specific research questions, animal ecologists will gain a more comprehensive understanding of organism-environment interactions.

Terrestrial habitats around wetlands are important in wetland conservation because many vertebrate animals use them during part of their life cycle. There is relatively little information concerning terrestrial habitat use by aquatic snakes adjacent to wetlands. Radiotelemetry was used to study the spatial ecology and terrestrial habitat use of Nerodia e. erythrogaster in the upper coastal plain of northern South Carolina. Snakes used terrestrial habitats extensively during the summer and fall. Use of both wetlands and southern mixed hardwood forest were significantly greater than predicted by habitat availability within the snakes' home ranges. Agricultural fields were used significantly less than predicted. A distance of 344 m from wetlands is necessary to encompass 95% of the terrestrial localities documented in this study. Home range estimates based on 95% fixed kernels were significantly larger than those calculated using the 95% minimum convex polygon methods. Home range estimates for this ...

Recently, faunal remains were excavated from middens and structure fill associated with elite dwellings from five prehispanic Maya sites: Champoton, Chichen Itza, Dzibilchaltun, Siho, and Xcambo. The sites are located in the northern Maya lowlands, and all faunal materials derive from cultural accumulations dated to the Classic and Postclassic periods (between approximately AD 200 and 1500) of prehispanic Maya occupation. Identification and comparison of the faunal remains indicate diverse subsistence adaptations and harvesting/hunting strategies of vertebrate animals by the ancient Maya, revealing specifically different exploitation patterns at inland and coastal sites, each primarily adapted to the immediate local environments. While elite residents of the inland sites appear to have used strategies well adapted to a modified environment of secondary forest and agricultural fields, the coastal site elite relied mainly on marine fauna with only minor quantities of terrestrial vertebrates, some of which were possibly obtained through local and long distance exchange.

Complement evolved in parallel with coagulation as part of the primordial explosion of life in the Cambrian era. Remnants of this connection still exist in vertebrate animals as well as invertebrates. A classic example is the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, still sought after by scientists today to test substances for traces of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin). The system used by the crabs had a molecule that recognized bacteria or other invaders that got into the hemolymph of the crab. An enzyme triggered by the first molecule induced local coagulation that served to trap the microbes so that they could be destroyed by phagocytes in the animal's circulation.

Since their emergence 310–320 million years ago, reptiles have evolved to be one of the most adaptive and remarkable groups of vertebrate animals on earth. Comprising over 9500 species, they can be found in diverse niches ranging from the arid Sahara desert to the tropical wetlands of the Amazon. Diverse reproductive physiologies and behaviors, along with adaptive characteristics such as parthenogenesis and development of venom glands for prey immobilization, make them attractive models for biomedical and basic biological research. This chapter provides information regarding biology, husbandry, and the diseases commonly affecting captive reptiles most frequently used in research.

Tetrachromatic colour vision, based on four ‘main’ colours and their combinations, is probably the original colour vision in terrestrial vertebrates. In addition to human visible waveband of light (400–700 nm) and three main colours, it also includes the near ultraviolet part of light spectrum (320–400 nm). The ecological importance of ultraviolet (UV) vision in animals has mainly been studied in the context of intra- and inter-sexual signalling, but recently the importance of UV vision in foraging has received more attention. Foraging animals may use either UV cues (reflectance or absorbance) of food items or UV cues of the environment. So far, all diurnal birds studied (at least 35 species), some rodents (4 species), many reptilians (11 species) and amphibians (2 species) are likely able to see near UV light. This probably allows e.g. diurnal raptors as well as frugivorous, nectarivorous and insectivorous birds to use foraging cues invisible to humans. The possible role of UV cues and existing light conditions should be taken into account when food selection of vertebrate animals is studied, particularly, in experiments with artificial food items.

Summary Eucalypt dieback is widespread throughout Australia and affects an increasing range of species. In addition to salt, a 1993 study listed 13 types of insects, five types of fungi, five kinds of vertebrate animals, four climatic perturbations and a parasitic plant that had been implicated as major agents of dieback in southeastern Australia. Repeated defoliation by insects has usually been identified as a major factor in rural and forest diebacks, while mesic understorey development is often an important feature of forest diebacks. Different mechanisms of initiation and reinforcement have been proposed to account for many different forms of dieback. High rates of folivory leading to both rural and forest diebacks, have been related either to high resource availability and tree vigour or to low resource availability and tree stress. A simple model of eucalypt dieback is proposed to account for both rural and forest dieback, including an increasing range of ‘susceptible’ species and sites. It associat...

The use of fish in scientific research is increasing worldwide, due to both the rapid expansion of the fish farming industry and growing awareness of questions concerning the humane use of mammalian models in basic research and chemical testing. As fish are lower on the evolutionary scale than mammals, they are considered to be less sentient. Fish models are providing researchers, and those concerned with animal welfare, with opportunities for adhering to the Three Rs principles of refinement, reduction and replacement. However, it should be kept in mind that fish should also be covered by the principles of the Three Rs. Indeed, various studies have shown that fish are capable of nociception, and of experiencing pain in a manner analogous to that in mammals. Thus, emphasis needs to be placed on the development of alternatives that replace, as much as possible, the use of all living vertebrate animals, including fish. This review gives the first comprehensive and critical overview of the existing alternatives for live fish experimental studies. The alternative methods described range from cell and tissue cultures, organ and perfusion models, and embryonic models, to in silico computer and mathematical models. This article aspires to guide scientists in the adoption of the correct alternative methods in their research, and, whenever possible, to reduce the use of live fish.

Camallanoids are spirurid round worms known to occur in stomach and intestine of lower vertebrate animals such as fishes and reptiles. This paper records the occurrence of Camallanus trispinosus in a captive Indian star tortoise of Guindy snake park, Chennai, India for the first time during necropsy and identified on the basis of morphology of male and female worms, including eggs.

Invertebrate animals have been used as medicinals for 4,000 years and have served as models for research and teaching since the late 1800s. Interest in invertebrate models has increased over the past several decades as the research community has responded to public concerns about the use of vertebrate animals in research. As a result, invertebrates are being evaluated and recognized as models for many diseases and conditions. Their use has led to discoveries in almost every area of biology and medicine--from embryonic development to aging processes. Species range from terrestrial invertebrates such as nematodes and insects to freshwater and marine life including planarians, crustaceans, molluscs, and many others. The most often used models are the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the minuscule nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Topics in this article are categorized by biologic system, process, or disease with discussion of associated invertebrate models. Sections on bioactive products discovered from invertebrates follow the models section, and the article concludes with uses of invertebrates in teaching. The models reviewed can serve as references for scientists, researchers, veterinarians, institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs), and others interested in alternatives to vertebrate animals.

All animals are ecosystems, home to diverse microbial populations. Animal-associated microbes play important roles in the normal development and physiology of their hosts, but can also be agents of infectious disease. Traditionally, mice have been used to study pathogenic and beneficial associations between microbes and vertebrate animals. The zebrafish is emerging as a valuable new model system for host-microbe interaction studies, affording researchers with the opportunity to survey large populations of hosts and to visualize microbe-host associations at a cellular level in living animals. This chapter provides detailed protocols for the analysis of zebrafish-associated microbial communities, the derivation and husbandry of germ-free zebrafish, and the modeling of infectious disease in different stages of zebrafish development via different routes of inoculation. These protocols offer a starting point for researchers to address a multitude of questions about animals’ coexistence with microorganisms.

Critics of the Endangered Species Act have asserted that is protects an inordinate number of subspecies and populations, in addition to full species, and that the scientific rationale for listing decisions is absent or weak. We reviewed all U.S. plants and animals proposed for listing or added to the endangered species list from 1985 through 1991 to determine the relative proportion of species, subspecies, and populations, and their rarity at time of listing. Approximately 80% of the taxa added to the list were full species, 18% were subspecies, and 2% were distinct populations segments of more widespread vertebrate species. The proportion of subspecies and populations was considerably higher among birds and mammals than among other groups. The median populations size at time of listing for vertebrate animals was 1075 individuals; for invertebrate animals it was 999. The median population size of a plant at time of listing was less than 120 individuals. Earlier listing of declining species could significantly improve the likelihood of successful recovery, and it would provide land managers and private citizens with more options for protecting vanishing plants and animals at less social or economic cost. Los criticos del Acta de Especies en Peligro de Extincion han afirmado que, ademas de proteger especies, esta proteje un numero excesivo de subespecies y poblaciones, y que la justification cientifica en el proceso de eleccion de las especies a listar esta ausente o es debil. Hemos revisado todas las plantas y animales de USA que fueron propuestos para listar o adicionados a la lista de especies en peligro de extincion entre 1985 y 1991 a los efectos de determinar la proporcion relativa de especies, subespecies y poblaciones, y su rareza en el momento del listado. Aproximadamente un 80 porciento de los taxones adicionados a la lista fueron especies; 18 porciento fueron subespecies y 2 porciento fueron segmentos poblacionales diferentes de las especies de vertebrados mas comunes. La proporcion de subespecies y poblaciones fue considerablemente mas alta entre pajaros y mamiferos que entre otros grupos. La mediana del tamano poblacional en el momento del listado fue de 1.075 individuos; para animales invertebrados fue de 999. La mediana del tamano poblacional de las plantas en el momento del listado fue menor que 120 individuos. Listados de especies en declinacion anteriores podrian mejorar significativamente la posibilidad de una recuperacion exitosa, y proveeria a los administradores de tierras y ciudadanos privados con mas opciones para proteger plantas y animales en proceso de desaparicion a un costo social o economico menor.

Many factors related to disease etiology, animal behavior, and comparative physiology combine to complicate the testing of vertebrate pesticides for use in disease control. Several case histories and documented events arereferred to as a means of delineating the diverse nature of these difficulties. Because of the great variety of experiences and formal education necessary to evaluate these problems effectively, it is obvious that a multidisciplinary, consensus effort is required. The exceedingly high cost and low return for investment and labor in research would indicate that no single agency, company, nor group of scientists are capable of, nor can afford, undertaking pesticidal registration for vertebrate disease control under the usual criteria. Therefore, special consideration for a multiagency, multidisciplinary approach to the development of pesticides for disease control in vertebrate animals is mandatory, if catastrophes to human and environmental health are to be minimized.

The intestinal tract of invertebrate and vertebrate animals, including man, is an anoxic habitat wherein microbial formation of acetate from H2 + CO2 is often a major H2-consuming reaction. This paper will discuss the magnitude and microbiology of H2/CO2 acetogenesis in animal guts, its impact on host animal nutrition, competition for H2 between anaerobic microbes, and the global significance of intestinal H2/CO2 acetogenesis.

In terms of its most basic components, reproduction in amphibians is similar to that in other vertebrate animals. But, superimposed on this similarity is a level of diversity that is unique among the tetrapods. Keywords: gonads; gametes; mating; sexual selection; parental care

Body temperature is one of the most important factors influencing animal function. Vertebrate animals generally regulate their body temperatures within quite narrow limits, but use different mechanisms to achieve this stability. In some circumstances, maintaining a high stable body temperature is not possible and several vertebrate groups have involved adaptive responses, such as torpor and hibernation, to overcome these problems. Keywords: body temperature; endothermy; exothermy; homeothermy; poikilothermy

The Victorian government’s expedition to the Murray river in 1857 was distinguished by the quality of images generated by its principals. Guided by the unifying vision of alexander Humboldt, William Blandowski and Gerard Krefft examined the relationship between the australians and their environment. Blandowski initiated a productive engagement with the local nyeri nyeri that yielded an unsurpassed collection of vertebrate animals endemic to the Murray-Darling Basin. Despite Blandowski’s reckless leadership and Krefft’s simmering resentment of his commander, the expedition resulted in irreplaceable data. The immediacy of Krefft’s observations offer a glimpse of mammals that have subsequently plummeted to extinction, as well as providing unique evidence of the interaction between the indigenous australians and their environment. Krefft’s images illuminate one of australia’s richest and most diverse regions at the moment of pastoral incursion. Both men were intensely aware that they had the opportunity of observing a world that was changing irrevocably in front of their eyes.

This work covers the history of the landscape, the climate, the vegetation, the vertebrate animals, Aboriginal association with the land, and conservation and the future.

An index to assess trophic diversity from presence-absence food data is proposed. The index is computed according to the expression {Mathematical expression}, where the {Mathematical expression}'s are the frequencies of occurrence of the various prey categories. The upper and lower limits of D are derived. A test of the reliability of D was carried out by comparing D and H (Shannon's information function) values obtained from a set of twenty-three food analyses from vertebrate animals. Results show that, although a significant correlation exists between D and H, only a small fraction of H-variation is explained by D-variation. D contains two kinds of information, one referred to 'species richness' and another relative to the degree of between-samples heterogeneity. The former is shared in common with H and this presumably explains the fairly weak correlation found between both measures. © 1976 Springer-Verlag.

The explication of prehistoric subsistence economies has been of increasing interest to archaeologists. This emphasis is reflected, in part, by the considerable attention afforded faunal analyses in the recent archaeological literature. However, little effort has been made toward developing methods that permit meaningful comparisons of food resources at the interspecies level. Data pertinent to the calculation of both quantitative and qualitative food potential of many of the vertebrate animals represented in archaeological contexts are extant. These data are lacking for freshwater mussels, frequently found in archaeological sites in eastern North America. Information relevant to determining the food energy provided by freshwater mussels common to much of the Mississippi River drainage is presented. Results are applicable to more credible interpretations of prehistoric subsistence as related to animal food resources.

Many quantitative methods are used to compare gas exchange in various classes of vertebrate animals. Although respiratory data are now available for several different phyla, the generality of the concepts involved and hence their suitability for broad comparisons is not clear. Data for animals representing six phyla are analysed in terms ranging from simple extraction percentages to the potentially innovative measures of the effectiveness of gas exchange. A critical examination of these concepts in the light of the biology of the particular species emphasizes the caution with which they must be used.

The problems of managing chalk grassland nature reserves in Britain are briefly reviewed and methods of management are described. The effects of management on populations of invertebrate animals characteristic of chalk grassland are considered with reference to the results of experimental studies and to other information on their ecology. An attempt is made to relate these effects to species that are dependent on (1) grazing vertebrate animals, (2) particular chalk grassland plants, and (3) the gross structure of the vegetation. Interim recommendations are made for the management of nature reserves in which diversity of the fauna is an important object of management.

Thirty years ago I published a note on the geographical distribution of the Indian fauna, and proposed the division of the Indian Peninsula into certain provinces and sub-provinces distinguished by their zoological characters. Six years later, on the appearance of Wallace’s 'Geographical Distribution of Animals,’ I republished the scheme of geographical classification with a small sketch map. Both papers were merely statements of conclusions, without full details of the facts on which those conclusions were founded. The completion of the Vertebrata in the c Fauna of British India ’ affords an opportunity of reconsidering the whole question, and of reviewing generally the distribution of terrestrial vertebrate animals throughout the British possessions in India, Ceylon, and Burma. For the study of zoological distribution there are few, if any, regions on the earth’s surface that exceed British India and its dependencies in interest. The area is large, nearly 1,800,000 square miles, and although the vertebrate fauna is by no means thoroughly explored, it is well known throughout the greater part of the area, and fairly well throughout the whole ; better probably than in any other tropical and sub-tropical tract of approximately equal extent. The variety of elevation and of climate is remarkable ; the country is bounded on the north by the highest of known mountain ranges, and by the loftiest plateau on the earth’s surface, and it includes within its limits both the almost rainless area of the Sind Desert, and the locality in the Khási Hills distinguished by the heaviest rainfall known. Another element of interest is the fact that the Peninsula of India is a land of great geological antiquity, there being no evidence to show that it has ever been submerged, although the greater part of the Himalayas and Burma have at times been beneath the sea.

In working out the life history of certain trematode parasites which occur as adults in vertebrate animals it was necessary to rear parasite-free dragonflies which serve as intermediate hosts in the life history. Since parasitologists have to rear hosts which are free from certain kinds of parasites at least, it makes the problems of food and feeding more difficult. The literature on the subject of rearing common, well-known species of invertebrate animals in the laboratory is scarce and there is an increasing demand for such knowledge; so that the author deems it worth while to make this information available. The following excerpts are from Needham and Heywood (20, p. 239): “Some eggs obtained in September at Ithaca hatched the following January, having been kept the while in a laboratory of the normal temperature. Doubtless under normal conditions they do not hatch before spring.” “Mr. F. R. Nevin has raised vicinum from eggs, laid on October 1 by females from this same pond, which hatched, indoors, from November 28 to January 4 and yielded imagoes on May 3 to May 10, after 11 larval instars.”

We have found that most of the inorganic components in the scales of different inland fish species consist of crystallized hydroxyl apatit (part of which contains adsorbed [PO4], in analogy to the mineral constituents of the bones of other vertebrate animals.

The present survey of the fauna of Rennell and Bellona Islands is based on personal acquaintance during three visits to Rennell, over 2 months’ duration in all, as well as on published records. These are first and foremost to be found in The natural history of Rennell Island, British Solomon Island , published by Danish Science Press on behalf of the University of Copenhagen and the British Museum (Natural History) London. Vol. 1 (1958) contains five introductory papers and seven papers on the vertebrate animals, vol. 2 (1959) and vol. 4 (1962) two additional papers on the vertebrates and 26 papers on invertebrates, and vol. 3 (1960) contains six papers on botany and geology. Another 18 papers, which will be published in 1968 in vol. 5, and are based on recent expeditions to Rennell (see below) have also been utilized in the present survey. Literature referring to early visits to Rennell and Bellona (before 1951) is listed by Wolff (1955 a). The most comprehensive of these papers are those on birds (Mayr 1931 a, b), reptiles (Slevin 1934), ants (Wheeler 1934), vascular plants (Fosberg 1940), and geology (Stanley 1929).

Vertebrate animals collected in Haiti in 1972 were tested for selected zoonotic diseases. No rabies virus or neutralizing (N) antibody was detected in bats (Artibeus jamaicensis). However, N antibody against St. Louis encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis (WEE), and Eastern equine encephalitis were detected in resident species of birds and WEE antibody in bats. No N antibody against Venezuelan equine encephalitis was found. The possible introduction by migratory birds and local transmission of these arboviruses is discussed.

Rhabdoviruses infect vertebrate and invertebrate animals as well as plants. The life cycle of many rhabdoviruses involves replication in an arthropod and subsequent transmission to either a vertebrate animal or a plant. Thus, arthropods are the unifying life form in the natural history of many of these agents, an observation noted more than 30 years ago (Maramorosch, 1955). Ecological studies are incomplete, but available information suggests that arthropods were in the past essential to the maintenance of rhabdoviruses. It can be argued that rhabdoviruses evolved in arthropods and were originally maintained by vertical transmission, i.e., by passage through the egg. Some, such as Sigma virus, are still maintained exclusively by vertical transmission today (Brun and Plus, 1980). Others, because of the parasitic association of their arthropod host with plants or vertebrates, developed the ability to grow in plants or in vertebrate animals. Consequently, many rhabdoviruses are now maintained in arthropod-vertebrate-arthropod or arthropod-plant-arthropod cycles (Knudson 1973; K. M. Johnson et al., 1969). A few rhabdoviruses, such as rabies and some of the fish viruses, have adapted completely to vertebrates and no longer infect arthropods.

The potential importance of animals in structuring natural communities has been explicitly recognized at least as far back as Darwin (1890), who estimated the volume of English soil turned over by earthworms. In spite of this, there is a latent tendency among plant-oriented ecologists to harbor the view that animals, while being responsive to the plant community, are not likely to have much effect upon it. Fortunately, this bias is rapidly disappearing as natural communities become better understood. This paper concerns a subset of this larger issue, namely, the impacts of vertebrate animals in California grassland communities. No one would deny the profound effects on this community-type imposed by grazing livestock. But what about non-domesticated vertebrates?