Download Lecture 3 Sept 15 2010

Lecture Outline

1. Why take this Mammalogy course?
2. Why Study Mammals?
3. Approaches to Studying Mammals
4. Mammal Characteristics (continued in next
lecture)
Sept. 15, 2010
1
Why take Mammalogy 425?


Add breadth and depth to your understanding
of Class Mammalia.
Integration – link what you have learned in
previous courses into a comprehensive
package.
Sept. 15, 2010
2
Why Study Mammals?








1. Consumptive resource
2. Transport (domestication literally shaped society)
3. Pets
4. Recreation
5. Safety (direct and indirect)
6. Medicine
7. Ecosystem health (e.g., conservation)
8. Reflection
Sept. 15, 2010
3
Consumptive resource

Meat, hides, bones, fur, blubber, horns/antlers,
& sometimes organs
Sept. 15, 2010
4
Transport and utility
Sept. 15, 2010
5
Pets

39% of US households have a dog
33% of US households have a cat

http://www.thebarkleypethotel.com/accommodations/canine_quarters.aspx

Sept. 15, 2010
6
Recreation and tourism


10.7 million hunters pursue big-game
annually (USFWS 2006)
Wolf-based tourism at Yellowstone = $5 mil
Sept. 15, 2010
7
Safety





Lions – 871 people injured or killed in Tanzania in last 15 years (NSF 2005)

Tsavo lions = 140 workers in Kenya (1898) (Smithsonian.com)

Njombe lions = 1,500 people between 1932-1947 (Smithsonian.com)
Leopard of Rudraprayag – 125 victims (1918-1926)
Leopard of Panar – killed 400 (1940s)
Tigers

Champawat Tigress (early 1900s)– killed 200 people in Nepal and another 236 in India before she
was tracked down an killed.
Bear

Mother grizzly mauls 3 in Montana (7/2010)

Mother grizzly attackes 3 bikers in Anchorage (7/2010)

Grizzly attacks geologist in Alaska Range (6/2010)

Grizzly attacks biker in Anchorage (6/2010)
Sept. 15, 2010
8
Safety (cont.)

Vectors or reservoirs of human disease





The Plague (rats and prairie dogs)
Hantavirus (rodents)
Lyme disease (deer)
Ebola (monkeys)
Rabies (raccoons, skunks, fox, dogs,…)
Sept. 15, 2010
9
Medicine

Animal testing



Development of treatments
Ensure safety of food and drugs
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC)



700 kg of bear gall bladder each year (1 bear gall
bladder = 50g) (Yaoting 1994).
Deer antler and velvet = arthritis, stress,
depression, sexual disorders,…
Tiger penis
Sept. 15, 2010
10
Ecosystem health

Conservation


Preserve biodiversity – core of life
Prevent more extinctions


Saudi Gazelle (extinct 2008)
Sound management requires rigorous research and
knowledge
Sept. 15, 2010
11
Environmental damage and human
conflict


Crop damage
Invasive species




Rat Island in Alaska
http://aprn.org/2010/09/01/ratseliminated-from-aleutian-island/
Fox removal
Livestock predation
Predator control
Sept. 15, 2010
12
Reflection

By learning more about other mammals, we
learn more about humankind.


“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic
community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Aldo Leopold
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives,
nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one
that is most adaptable to change.” Charles
Darwin.
Sept. 15, 2010
13
Approaches to studying mammals



1. Field methods
2. Lab & Museum methods (Sept. 28 lab)
3. Systematic methods
Sept. 15, 2010
14
Field

Capture & Marking

Trapping

Net gunning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAj9GvCpCS8&feature=related
Tranquilizer darts
Hair snares http://gallery.usgs.gov/videos/15
Feces
Physical features (whale fins)
Tags (implants, ear clips)
Radiocollars






Sept. 15, 2010
15
Surveying & monitoring






Radiotelemetry (VHF and GPS)
Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags
Powdertracking
Fecal pellet surveys
Track surveys
Genetics

Feces, hair, bones
Sept. 15, 2010
16
Observation (Ex. LARS, Denali)


Focal animal sampling – recording specific
behaviors or watching a specific individual
Scan sampling – recording behavior at predetermined intervals
Sept. 15, 2010
17
Laboratory methods

Physiological – study of how tissues and organs
function




Nutrition
Metabolism
Reproduction
Genetics



Population structure and dynamics
Speciation
Phylogeny
Sept. 15, 2010
18
Sept. 15, 2010
19
Sept. 15, 2010
20
DNA-filled
coating
DEER PELLET
Sept. 15, 2010
21
Extract DNA
Sept. 15, 2010
22
Microsatellite
Markers
Isolate pieces of DNA that
are unique among
individual deer
Sept. 15, 2010
23

Investigate population dynamics

Abundance, survival, movement
Determine phylogeny and phylogeography
 AND…the technology will only improve!

Sept. 15, 2010
24
Systematic Methods
Systematics: The field of biology that deals with the diversity of living
organisms, usually divided into the two subdisciplines of taxonomy and
phylogenetics.
Taxonomy: The science of describing, naming, and classifying (grouping)
organisms.
Taxon (plural: taxa): Any named group of organisms (not necessarily a clade).
A subspecies respresents a "taxon," as does every hierarchical level up to
Kingdom.
Phylogenetics: The field of biology that deals with the relationships between
organisms, including the discovery of these relationships and the study of the
causes (e.g., evolution) behind theseSept.
patterns.
15, 2010
25
Systematic methods

Intraspecific variation – morphological,
physiological, behavioral, and spatial differences within a
species.

Intraspecific phylogeography – geographic
distribution of genealogical lineages within a species.

Species boundaries – identifying units of
biodiversity

Classification – grouping species into progressively
more inclusive categories.
Sept. 15, 2010
26
What’s a mammal?
CLASSIFICATION: The process and
practice of describing, defining and ranking
taxa within a hierarchical series of groups;
permits organizing and ordering knowledge
about organisms, and creates a simplified
language for conveying information about
order in the diversity of life. In biology, we
use the Linnean classification hierarchy
(Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family,
Genus, Species).
Sept. 15, 2010
27
Simply…

Classification = grouping species into progressively
more inclusive categories.
Sept. 15, 2010
28
What’s a mammal?

Kingdom = Animalia

Phylum = Chordata

Subphylum = Vertebrata



Class = Mammalia

Order = Primates

Family = Hominidae

Genus = Homo

Species = sapiens
Orders = 26
Species ≈ 5000
Sept. 15, 2010
29
Alaska tiny shrew
Sept. 15, 2010
30
Unique features (soft anatomy)





Hair
Mammary glands
Four chambered heart with left aortic arch
Enucleated red blood cells
Muscular diaphragm
Sept. 15, 2010
31
Hair (fur or pelage)




Insulation
Protection
Camouflage
Sensory
Sept. 15, 2010
32
Mammal hair:
invagination
Bird feather: evagination
Dermal vs.
Epidermal
Sept. 15, 2010
33
Mammary glands



Highly modified sweat glands
Produce milk (mostly female)
Number & location varies
Located high on side
Sept. 15, 2010
34
Mammary glands - structural variation
Hairs
Nipples
(most mammals)
Sept. 15, 2010
Teat
(e.g., cows)
35
4-chambered heart with functional left
aortic arch
Sept. 15, 2010
36
Enucleated red blood cells
Muscular diaphragm
Sept. 15, 2010
37
Common features (but not unique or
not found in all mammals)
1.
2.
Endothermy (birds)
Give birth to live young (reptiles, fish,..)
Sept. 15, 2010
38
Next Lecture


Common features of mammals (skeletal)
Evolution
Sept. 15, 2010
39
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
Sept. 15, 2010
40