NEWMAN, S.A.; New York Medical College: Interplay between Genetic and Physical Mechanisms in Morphological Innovation Living tissues are chemically active, viscoelastic materials. This implies that the forms they assume are determined, in part, by mechanical, mechanochemical, and other physical processes. It is proposed that at early stages in the evolution of body plans and organ […]

M�LLER, G.B.; University of Vienna: Innovation in Development and Evolution Organismal evolution proceeds by a two-stage process: the initial generation of heritable phenotypic differences and the adaptive variation and fixation of these differences in a population. Over many decades evolutionary theory has almost exclusively focused on the latter, variation of characters that already exist, blackboxing […]

CEBRA-THOMAS, J*A*; TAN, F. E.; GILBERT, S. F.; Swarthmore College; Swarthmore College; Swarthmore College: How the Turtle Gets its Shell: A Provisional Outline The turtle shell is a morphological innovation that is the basal synapomorphy for the Chelonian clade. In forming the shell, normal vertebrate development is altered and fifty novel bones are produced. Recent […]

JABLONSKI, D.; Univ. of Chicago: Evolutionary Innovations in the Fossil Record: Patterns in time and space The origin of evolutionary innovations has been intensively studied, but relatively little is known about ecological and biogeographic patterns in the first occurrences of major groups or innovations. In post-Paleozoic marine fossil record, new orders do not originate randomly […]

FELIX, M.-A.; Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS: Evolution of nematode vulva development The nematode vulva is formed by precursors in the ventral epithelium, called Pn.p cells. Each Pn.p cell has a specific fate, determined in Caenorhabditis elegans by an inductive signal from the gonadal anchor cell and a lateral signal between the Pn.p cells. The Pn.p […]

MINELLI, A.; Univ. of Padova: Conserved vs. innovative features in animal body organization A search for the origin of structural innovations is better placed within evolutionary developmental biology rather than in the study of phylogeny or adaptation. Cladistics provides methods for distinguishing plesiomorphic from apomorphic features, but the apomorphies most reliably used in cladistic reconstruction […]

ROTH, Terri L.; Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden: The Role of Science in Breeding the Critically Endangered Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) The Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the most difficult mammals to breed in captivity. With a population of just three animals in the U.S. and virtually […]

ASA, Cheryl; Saint Louis Zoo: Recovery of Endangered Mexican Gray Wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) and Island Foxes (Urocyon littoralis) Captive breeding can be a critical component of recovery for endangered species. The Mexican wolf, extinct in the wild, became the focus of a binational zoo-based recovery plan and has been reintroduced into part of its […]

BERCOVITCH, Fred B; TOBEY, Jennifer R; Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego; Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego: Maternal Effort and Sex Differences in Koala Joey Development Maternal effort includes time, energy, and resources devoted to producing and rearing offspring. Sex biased maternal effort is […]

HILDEBRANDT, TB; HERMES, R; GOERITZ, F; Institute for Zoo Biology and Wildlife Research, Berlin: Development of assisted reproducion technologies for endangered species Assisted reproductive technologies (ART), such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer, ovum pickup, in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmatic sperm injection and gamete or embryo cryopreservation, are widely applied techniques used in human reproductive medicine and […]