POWELL, Mickie/L*; HEYL, Taylor; BAUKUS, Adam; SOWER, Stacia/A: Gonad Development in the North Atlantic hagfish, Myxine glutinosa Hagfish represent the oldest form of extant vertebrates, however, much of their life history remains a mystery. They are an important part of the benthic community in the deep ocean, recycling nutrients through the consumption of decaying animal […]

MCCLARY, JR., M.*; WEIS, J.S.; WEIS, P.: Gastropod feeding on detritus of Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis from polluted and non-polluted areas The Hackensack Meadowlands of New Jersey has saltmarsh cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, and the invasive common reed, Phragmites australis. Since P. australis grows faster and accumulates a lot of sediment, it is often removed […]

GABALDON, A.M.; NELSON, F.E.; ROBERTS, T.J.: Gastrocnemius Muscle Mechanics in Turkeys During Uphill and Downhill Running To produce different kinds of movements, animals either recruit different muscles or alter the mechanical function of active muscles. Studies indicate that the lateral gastrocnemius (LG) muscle in turkeys changes mechanical function with changes in running incline. On level […]

CARRIER, David/R: Functional Tradeoffs in the Running and Fighting of Early Hominids Characters that enhance fighting ability often limit locomotor stamina. Some of the characters that distinguish Australopithecus and Homo (e.g., limb and trunk proportions and robustness) may reflect a dichotomy between selection for fighting ability versus selection for locomotor stamina. We are studying functional […]

NELSON, F.E.*; GABALDON, A.M.; ROBERTS, T.J.: Force-velocity Properties of an Avian Hindlimb Muscle Recent work has provided measurements of power output in avian skeletal muscles during running and flying, but little is known about the force-velocity properties or instantaneous power capacity of avian skeletal muscle. We made in situ force-velocity measurements of a major hind […]

GARCIA, I.L.: Fiddler crab posing: field tests of four hypothetical functions On sunny summer days up to half of the Uca pugnax visible on exposed marsh surface in Lewes, DE exhibit a stereotypical posture. The crabs stand on the tips of their legs, backs oriented to the sun. They use four or fewer legs to […]

COOPER, Robin L.; SHURANOVA, Zhanna; BURMISTROV, Yuri: Evidence for the Autonomic Nervous System in Decapod Crustaceans In vertebrates the regulation of internal organs is primarily driven by the autonomic nervous system. Many internal organs in crustaceans, however, are traditionally treated as “autonomic” ones able to function long time after partial or even complete isolation from […]

ZEMKE, A.C.; PETER, L.; RIDGWAY, R.L.*: Evidence for a hemoprotein in glial cells of the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis The central nervous systems of many gastropods are distinctly pigmented. This pigmentation ranges from yellow-orange to bright red and has been attributed to the presence of carotenoproteins and/or hemoproteins. L. stagnalis is interesting in that its […]

EIDIETIS, Laura: Escape response of Rana sylvatica and Rana clamitans tadpoles Predation of dragonfly larvae (Anax junius) on wood frog (Rana sylvatica) tadpoles was observed using standard and high-speed video. Typical predatory behavior of A.junius consists of stalking, extending the lower mouthparts, grasping the tadpole, and drawing it into the mouth. A. junius typically neither […]

CREECH, J.E.*; ERICKSON, G.M.: Enamel Microstructure of Chamaeleonids and the evolution of reptilian enamel prisms Uromastyx is the only reptilian clade that evolved enamel prisms equable to those found throughout the Mammalia. As part of a study on the evolution of prismatic enamel we used scanning electron microscopy to characterize the microstructure of enamel in […]