JACKSON, K; Harvard University: Evolution of the venom-conducting fang in snakes Three lineages of colubroid snakes, the elapids, the viperids, and the atractaspidids, possess tubular fangs as part of a system that injects venom into a prey item. All recent phylogenies indicate that these three lineages represent three independent derivations of the tubular fang. Nonetheless, […]

SWIDERSKI, D.L.; SHEETS, H.D.; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Canisius College, Buffalo, NY: Divergence of scapula shape in Neotropical bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae): inferences from combining landmarks and outlines Phyllostomid bats have diverse diets (flying insects, fruit, nectar, small vertebrates, blood) and exhibit corresponding diversity in modes of flight used during foraging. Studies on many other […]

KLEY, N.J.*; HILTON, E.J.; RICHMOND, A.M.; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA: Comparative morphology of the pelvic apparatus of snakes The presence or absence of pelvic vestiges has been used as a key character in the study of snake systematics for over […]

SEBENS, Kenenth P.; University of Maryland: What Limits Coral Growth?: Location, Translocation, Allocation Scleractinian corals use a wide variety of resources to grow and calcify in regions that are often low in potentially limiting resources. In shallow reef habitats, zooxanthellae translocate abundant photosynthate, but nutrients needed for tissue growth may be scarce. In deeper zones […]

BUXTON, L.; GUTOWSKA, M.; SAWNEY, S.; OWEN, R.; TRAPIDO-ROSENTHAL, H.*; Bermuda Biological Station for Research; Evergreen State College; Eckerd College; Bermuda Biological Station for Research; Bermuda Biological Station for Research: Increases in the Activity of Zooxanthellae Nitric Oxide Synthase are Associated with the Temperature-Induced Bleaching of the Coral Madracis mirabilis Coral bleaching, in which corals […]

THACKER, R.W.*; ERWIN, P.M.; BEVIS, K.P.; PAUL, V.J.; Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham; Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham; Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham; Smithsonian Marine Station, Fort Pierce, FL: Effects of Reduced Light Availability on a Sponge-Cyanobacterial Symbiosis The tropical marine sponge Dysidea herbacea contains large populations of the symbiotic, blue-green alga Oscillatoria spongeliae. These […]

BARNWELL, F.H.; Univ. of Minnesota: Daily and tidal rhythms of locomotor activity in the fiddler crab Uca tetragonon in relation to the “solar” tide at Moorea, French Polynesia. The island of Moorea, FP, lies at the node of a large amphidromic (Gr., running around) tidal system in the south central Pacific. Mean tidal range is […]

NICHOLS,, S.A.; BARNES,, P.A.G.*; HICKMAN,, C.S.; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Univ. of California, Berkeley: Biodiversity, and distribution with respect to substrate and depth, of marine sponges of the Caribbean coast of Panama. This study increases voucher-documented sponge diversity of the Caribbean coast of Panama from 54 to 93. One new species […]

PAWLIK, J.R.; Univ. of North Carolina at Wilmington: Adaptation and optimization of chemical defenses in coral reef sponges Marine chemical ecologists investigate the functional significance of secondary metabolites present in marine organisms within a theoretical framework that has been borrowed from earlier terrestrial studies, particularly plant-insect interactions. Foremost among models predicting intraspecific allocation of chemical […]

BENDER , G; TAN, F; SISTLA, S; ESTES, E; CEBRA-THOMAS, J; GILBERT, S. F. ; Swarthmore College; Swarthmore College; Swarthmore College; Swarthmore College; University of Pennsylvania; Swarthmore College: The turtle shell as co-opting developmental programs of the vertebrate head The 50 new bones of the turtle shell superficially resemble facial and calvarial bones in their […]