There is much variation in the form and function of vertebrate hearts. At one extreme sits the two-chambered, flow-through hearts of fish while at the other end sits the highly efficient four-chambered hearts of birds and mammals that create the complete separation of pulmonary (lung) and circulatory (systemic) systems. Understanding the relationships between heart performance and animal physiology has long fascinated biologists. But more recently, new lines of investigation have also began dissecting the developmental origins of cardiac variation to better understand the ways in which this critical organ has evolved. Several recent research papers have used lizards and snakes – most importantly, anoles – as their centerpiece in the hope of finding new clues about heart evolution and the origin of the fully divided ventricle. These studies fill an important gap in our knowledge of comparative heart development. Prior to this research the study of squamate heart development had lagged well behind species from other vertebrate lineages, sitting idly for over 100 years.
Category: All Posts Page 135 of 154
In the next two days, everybody who’s anybody in evolutionary biology will be winging his or her way to beautiful Snowbird, Utah for the 2013 Evolution meetings. And, as always, anole lizards will be major players.
Dobzhansky Prize laureate Rowan Barrett’s fingers getting what they deserve. Photo by Todd Palmer.
Indeed, the last two meetings have been all about anoles. In 2011 in Norman, OK, anoles swept the field, with anole researchers receiving both the prestigious Dobzhansky and Fisher Prizes, as well as three of the four American Society of Naturalist’s Young Investigators Prizes. The hardware continued to head the anole way last year in Ottawa, with Liam Revell nabbing a YIP. And true to form, the parade continues this year, with Berkeley-bound anolologist Ian Wang nabbing one of this year’s YIPs. Moreover, this year’s Dobzhansky Prize goes to Rowan Barrett, who even though known for working on lesser organisms, has lately been seen studying anoles.
Martha Muñoz posted the anole talks a month ago, but here they are again, including time and room:
Isolation by Environment: the Role of Ecology in Genetic Differentiation. Author: Wang, Ian J. June 22, 9:30am, Ballroom 1
Natural selection on the thermal performance curve of Anolis sagrei. Authors: Logan, Michael L; Cox, Robert M; Calsbeek, Ryan G. June 23, 9:00am, Rendezvous A
Natural selection, developmental trajectories, and quantitative genetics underlying intraspecific variation in sexual dimorphism in an island lizard. Authors: Cox, Robert; Daugherty, Christopher; Price, Jennifer; McGlothlin, Joel. June 23, 9:15am, Rendezvous A
Testing for simultaneous divergence and gene flow in sister-pairs of physiologically divergent Anolis lizards from Puerto Rico. Author: McElroy, Matthew. June 23, 11:30am, Ballroom 2
Title: Divergence in coloration and the evolution of reproductive isolation in the Anolis marmoratus species complex. Authors: Muñoz, Martha; Crawford, Nicholas; McGreevy, Jr., Thomas; Schneider, Christopher. June 23, 4:15pm, Cottonwood C
Genomics of local adaptation and colorful pigmentation in Anolis lizards.
Authors: Crawford, Nicholas; McGreevy, Jr., Thomas; Mullen, Sean; Schneider, Christopher. June 25, 10:30am, Rendezvous A
Identification of sex specific molecular markers from reduced-representation genome sequencing. Authors: Gamble, Tony; Zarkower, David. June 25, 2:15pm, Cottonwood D
Extreme sex differences in the development of body size and sexual signals are mediated by hormonal pleiotropy in a dimorphic lizard. Authors: Cox, Christian L.; Hanninen , Amanda F; Cox, Robert M. June 25, 4:15pm, Cottonwood D
A new journal focused on the natural history of Caribbean fauna and flora has just been announced. As the sample cover to the left illustrates, it might be a great place to publish observations on our favorite critters. The journal has a distinguished board of editors and the webpage states:
The Caribbean Naturalist is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes original articles focused on field research of all aspects of the biology and ecology of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and the environments of the Caribbean region. The journal offers:
• over 15 years experience of consistently providing timely publication of high-quality peer-reviewed research
• article-by-article online publication for prompt distribution to a global audience
• an efficient and responsive review process
• the expertise to bring to rapid fruition proposals for Special Issues based on a series of invitational articles or conference proceedings
• the capability to accommodate publication of a wide range of supplemental files in association with journal articles
As is the case with Eagle Hill’s other natural history journals, the Caribbean Naturalist is expected to be fully indexed in Elsevier, Thomson Reuters, Proquest, EBSCO, Google Scholar, and other databases.
Check out the details at their website.
Anole Annals publishes on the WordPress blogging platform and clearly they like us, as they’ve just created a “theme” named Anolis. Maybe it’s time for a blog makeover!
Brother O’Mara has proposed producing a wallet emblazoned with green anoles. It’s on a website, Dynomighty, that appears to be similar to Kickstarter and he’s looking for funding to make the project a go.
Scarlet kingsnake feeding on a green anole. Photo by J.D. Willson.
New and spiffy! Among many other features, there is an image bank of great photos, including the one above.
This photo’s bouncing around the internet. It’s clearly Phenacosaurus, but which one? Doesn’t look like the P. heterodermus discussed in recent posts.
Janson Jones recalls the formative role Anolis carolinensis played in his childhood.
The good news: Cabela’s is selling their fabled telescoping panfish poles for $10 off (or at least, that’s what their website says–we’ve seen ordering fulfillment issues in the past)
The bad news: the non-sale price keeps going up.
Might be the right time to stock up!
Found this nice explanation of anole color change on twitter. It’s from the website of Elizabeth Nixon, a professional artist, who says that it was made in Photoshop in 40 hours. Very nicely done!