Tag: biology

An evolutionary experiment: when did wolves become dogs and what comes next?

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date March 26, 2015
No Comments on An evolutionary experiment: when did wolves become dogs and what comes next?

When did wolves become dogs?

What evolutionary and developmental processes are involved in creating physical variation?

Is selection responsible for moulding the diversity of life?

Or does developmental bias via drive and constraint determine how animal shapes change?

Abby Drake is interested in the processes that produce macroevolution and dictate which physical appearances, evolve and which do not.

She is especially interested in learning how species evolve: What mechanisms produce enough physical or behavioural change to ensure reproductive isolation on the population level?

To this end, she studies developmental processes that lead to large modifications of morphology, using variation in vertebrate skulls to answer these questions.

Abby uses three-dimensional scan data to capture each specimen’s 3D geometry.

This type of data allows her team to look at the shape of the skull holistically using a sophisticated shape analysis called geometric morphometrics.

While she also works on cetaceans, owls and primates, this episode focuses on her extensive work examining canids: when did wolves become dogs, how have we shaped them, and where might they go in the future?

Podcast

Images

Dog vs wolf skull shapes

Video

A thin-plate spline warping of a wolf skull into a French Bulldog. Data are from Drake, A.G. and Klingenberg C.P. 2010.

Publications

Dr Abby Drake - When did wolves become dogs? — Dr. Abby Drake

Drake, A. G., Coquerelle, M., & Colombeau, G. (2015). 3D morphometric analysis of fossil canid skulls contradicts the suggested domestication of dogs during the late Paleolithic. Scientific reports, 5.

Drake, A. G. (2011). Dispelling dog dogma: an investigation of heterochrony in dogs using 3D geometric morphometric analysis of skull shape [PDF]. Evolution & Development, 13(2), 204-213. **If you download and open this pdf with Adobe Reader 9 or higher you can rotate and magnify the skulls in the figures.

Drake, A. G., & Klingenberg, C. P. (2010). Large‐scale diversification of skull shape in domestic dogs: disparity and modularity. The American Naturalist, 175(3), 289-301.

Drake, A. G., & Klingenberg, C. P. (2008). The pace of morphological change: historical transformation of skull shape in St Bernard dogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1630), 71-76. http://www.skidmore.edu/biology/faculty/ProcRSoc2008.pdf

Links

Abby Drake: ResearchGate Profile

Abby Drake on Twitter: @AbbyGraceDrake

Daily Mail (UK): 30,000 year-old fossil of the oldest dog turns out to be a wolf

CBS News: When did dogs become man’s best friend?

Biologist Drake helps answer key question in canine history: Skidmore College News

Animal Welfare Cognition Management Research Wildlife

Do fish feel pain? Diving in to the deep end of fish welfare

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date February 19, 2015
No Comments on Do fish feel pain? Diving in to the deep end of fish welfare

Do fish feel pain?

Do fish really feel pain?

You might assume yes, but you’d be wrong.

Kind of.

You see – it’s complicated.

Dr. Ben Diggles has worked with government, aquaculture industry, recreational fisheries, and commercial fisheries throughout New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Ben’s core work includes import risk analysis, fish and shellfish health, fish welfare, development of feeding attractants for aquaculture, and development of medicated feeds for aquacultured finfish.

In his spare time Ben studies the effects of declining water quality on our estuaries, and is active in his local community developing solutions to these problems, like Oyster Reef Restoration.

In this episode, we catch up on the latest scientific findings relating to fish pain and learn more about the Ikijime method for killing fish captured for eating.

So let’s find out if fish feel pain.

Podcast

Publications

How to ikijime fish with Dr. Ben Diggles — Dr. Ben Diggles – How to ikijime fish

Rose, J. D., Arlinghaus, R., Cooke, S. J., Diggles, B. K., Sawynok, W., Stevens, E. D., & Wynne, C. D. L. (2014). Can fish really feel pain?. Fish and Fisheries, 15(1), 97-133

Diggles, B. K., Cooke, S. J., Rose, J. D., & Sawynok, W. (2011). Ecology and welfare of aquatic animals in wild capture fisheries . Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 21(4), 739-765.

Diggles, B. K. (2013). Historical epidemiology indicates water quality decline drives loss of oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) reefs in Moreton Bay, Australia. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 47(4), 561-581.

See more of Dr Ben Diggles’ publications here

Ben also writes monthly columns on fish biology for the Australian Anglers Fishing World Magazine (since 1995) and Sport Fishing Magazine (since March 2003)

Ikijime tool Australia

Ikijime Tool app via iTunes

Ikijime Tool app for Android via Google Play

Links

Ikijime website

DigsFish Services (Dr Ben Diggles) website

Grey matter matters when it comes to feeling pain (University of Queensland) – do fish feel pain?

Video – How to ikijime fish

How to care for your catch – ikijime & do fish feel pain?

Header image: Flickr/phwff-nova

Management Research Technology Wildlife

A Game of Drones: Using Drones in Conservation

Post author By Human Animal Science
Post date December 4, 2014
No Comments on A Game of Drones: Using Drones in Conservation

Using drones in conservation

When someone turns a fun hobby into a game changing tool for good, it’s inspirational!

That’s exactly what Lian Pin Koh has achieved in bringing affordable drone technology to aid conservation scientists.

A tropical ecologist by training, Associate Professor Lian Pin Koh received his PhD from Princeton University, where he studied the environmental and policy implications of oil-palm development in Southeast Asia.

He then spent several years researching key scientific and policy issues concerning tropical deforestation and its impacts on carbon emissions and biodiversity while based in Zurich.

Lian Pin currently leads the Applied Ecology & Conservation group at The University of Adelaide in South Australia, where they ultimately seek to do good for society.

In this episode, we speak with Lian Pin and learn about his exciting work using drones in conservation.

Podcast

Videos

Lian Pin Koh – A drone’s eye view of conservation

Using drones in conservation

Images

Publications

Lian Pin Koh - Using drones in conservation — Assoc. Prof. Lian Pin Koh

Koh, L. P., & Wich, S. A. (2012). Dawn of drone ecology: low-cost autonomous aerial vehicles for conservation. Tropical Conservation Science, 5(2), 121-132. [PDF]

Koh, L. P. (2013, June). Brave new world of drone technology for biodiversity research and conservation. In New Frontiers in Tropical Biology: The Next 50 Years (A Joint Meeting of ATBC and OTS). Atbc. [PDF]

Paneque-Gálvez, J., McCall, M. K., Napoletano, B. M., Wich, S. A., & Koh, L. P. (2014). Small drones for community-based forest monitoring: an assessment of their feasibility and potential in tropical areas. Forests, 5(6), 1481-1507.

See more:

Lian Pin Koh on Google Scholar

Lian Pin Koh on Research Gate