Episodes
Tuesday Jul 25, 2017
006 Turtle Tides
Tuesday Jul 25, 2017
Tuesday Jul 25, 2017
In episode six of our herpetology podcast we investigate the majestic sea turtles. To begin with we dive into the dispersal capabilities of Leatherback Turtles. Following on from that we discuss some of the threats that wild turtles face - plastics and oil. Finally, for our Species of the Bi-week we lighten the mood with a species which, incidentally, also possesses a hard exterior. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Lauritsen, Ann Marie, Philip M. Dixon, Dave Cacela, Beth Brost, Robert Hardy, Sandra L. MacPherson, Anne Meylan, Bryan P. Wallace, and Blair Witherington. 2017. “Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Loggerhead Turtle Caretta Caretta Nest Densities in Northwest Florida.” Endangered Species Research 33 (1): 83–93. OPEN ACCESS
Pham, Christopher K., Yasmina Rodríguez, Axelle Dauphin, Rita Carriço, João P.G.L. Frias, Frederic Vandeperre, Vanessa Otero, et al. 2017. “Plastic Ingestion in Oceanic-Stage Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta Caretta) off the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre.” Marine Pollution Bulletin, in press.
Scott, Rebecca, Arne Biastoch, Pierre D. Agamboue, Till Bayer, Francois L. Boussamba, Angela Formia, Brendan J. Godley, et al. 2017. “Spatio-Temporal Variation in Ocean Current-Driven Hatchling Dispersion: Implications for the World’s Largest Leatherback Sea Turtle Nesting Region.” Diversity and Distributions, 23: 604–614. OPEN ACCESS
Species of the Bi-Week:
Thomson, Scott, and Arthur Georges. 2016. “A New Species of Freshwater Turtle of the Genus Elseya (Testudinata: Pleurodira: Chelidae) from the Northern Territory of Australia.” Zootaxa 4061 (1): 18–28.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Benson, Scott R., Tomoharu Eguchi, Dave G. Foley, Karin A. Forney, Helen Bailey, Creusa Hitipeuw, Betuel P. Samber, et al. 2011. “Large-Scale Movements and High-Use Areas of Western Pacific Leatherback Turtles, Dermochelys Coriacea.” Ecosphere 2 (7): art84. OPEN ACCESS
Boyle, M. C., N. N. FitzSimmons, C. J. Limpus, S. Kelez, X. Velez-Zuazo, and M. Waycott. 2009. "Evidence for transoceanic migrations by loggerhead sea turtles in the southern Pacific Ocean." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences: rspb-2008.
Bombelli, Paolo, Christopher J. Howe, and Federica Bertocchini. 2017. “Polyethylene Bio-Degradation by Caterpillars of the Wax Moth Galleria Mellonella.” Current Biology 27 (8). Elsevier: R292–93.
Cedervall, Tommy, Lars-Anders Hansson, Mercy Lard, Birgitta Frohm, and Sara Linse. 2012. "Food chain transport of nanoparticles affects behaviour and fat metabolism in fish." PloS one 7 (2): e32254. OPEN ACCESS
Eckert, S. 2002. “Distribution of Juvenile Leatherback Sea Turtle Dermochelys Coriacea Sightings.” Marine Ecology Progress Series 230: 289–93. OPEN ACCESS
Geyer, Roland, Jenna R. Jambeck, and Kara Lavender Law. 2017. “Production, Use, and Fate of All Plastics Ever Made.” Science Advances 3 (7): 25–29. OPEN ACCESS
Jambeck, Jenna R, Roland Geyer, Chris Wilcox, Theodore R Siegler, Miriam Perryman, Anthony Andrady, Ramani Narayan, and Kara Lavender Law. 2015. “Plastic Waste Inputs from Land into the Ocean.” Science Magazine 347 (6223): 768–71.
Rossi, Giulia, Jonathan Barnoud, and Luca Monticelli. 2013. "Polystyrene nanoparticles perturb lipid membranes." The journal of physical chemistry letters 5 (1): 241-246.
Schuyler, Qamar, Britta Denise Hardesty, Chris Wilcox, and Kathy Townsend. 2014. “Global Analysis of Anthropogenic Debris Ingestion by Sea Turtles.” Conservation Biology 28 (1): 129–39. OPEN ACCESS
Other Links/Mentions:
Special edition of Endangered Species Research - OPEN ACCESS http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v33/
Photos from NOAA of Deepwater Horizon - https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/apr17/dwh-protected-species.html
Turtle in trouble after eating a straw (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wH878t78bw
Music – http://www.purple-planet.com
Tuesday Jul 11, 2017
005 Monsters and Dragons
Tuesday Jul 11, 2017
Tuesday Jul 11, 2017
This episode is focused on venomous lizards. The first half is all about the desert specialist and ultra-efficient Gila Monster. With the latter portion covering possibly the most charismatic lizard still roaming the earth – the iconic Komodo Dragon. We explore how these lizards interact with their environments and discuss the existence of their venoms. At the end we have the usual Species of the Bi-week who also harbours a dangerous toxin. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
French, Robert, Daniel Brooks, Anne-Michelle Ruha, Farshad Shirazi, Peter Chase, Keith Boesen, and Frank Walter. 2015. “Gila Monster (Heloderma Suspectum) Envenomation: Descriptive Analysis of Calls to United States Poison Centers with Focus on Arizona Cases.” Clinical Toxicology 53 (1): 60–70.
Fry, Bryan G, Stephen Wroe, Wouter Teeuwisse, Matthias J P van Osch, Karen Moreno, Janette Ingle, Colin McHenry, et al. 2009. “A Central Role for Venom in Predation by Varanus Komodoensis (Komodo Dragon) and the Extinct Giant Varanus (Megalania) Priscus.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106 (22): 8969–74. OPEN ACCESS
Gienger, C. M., C. Richard Tracy, and Kenneth A. Nagy. 2014. “Life in the Lizard Slow Lane: Gila Monsters Have Low Rates of Energy Use and Water Flux.” Copeia 2: 279–87.
Purwandana, Deni, Achmad Ariefiandy, M. Jeri Imansyah, Aganto Seno, Claudio Ciofi, Mike Letnic, and Tim S. Jessop. 2016. “Ecological Allometries and Niche Use Dynamics across Komodo Dragon Ontogeny.” Science of Nature 103 (27): 26–37.
Species of the Bi-Week:
Serrano-Rojas, Shirley J., Andrew Whitworth, Jaime Villacampa, Rudolf Von May, Roberto C. Gutiérrez, José M. Padial, and Juan C. Chaparro. 2017. “A New Species of Poison-Dart Frog (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from Manu Province, Amazon Region of Southeastern Peru, with Notes on Its Natural History, Bioacoustics, Phylogenetics, and Recommended Conservation Status.” Zootaxa 4221 (1): 71–94.
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Auffenberg W. 1981. “Behavioral ecology of the Komodo monitor. University Presses of Florida, Gainesville.” as cited in Fry et al. 2006 and Purwandana et al. 2016
Ariefiandy, Achmad, Deni Purwandana, Sanggar Abdil Nasu, Maman Surahman, Claudio Ciofi, and Tim Jessop. 2015. “First Record of Komodo Dragon Nesting Activity and Hatchling Emergence from North Flores , Eastern Indonesia.” Biawak 9 (1): 33–35. OPEN ACCESS
Ashurst, John, and Robert Cannon. 2013. “Gila Monster Envenomation: A Review for the Emergency Medicine Physician.” JMED Research 2013: 1–4. OPEN ACCESS
Daly, J. W., and C. W. Myers. 1967. “Toxicity of Panamanian Poison Frogs (Dendrobates): Some Biological and Chemical Aspects.” Science 156 (3777): 970–73.
Davis, J. R., and D. F. DeNardo. 2007. “The urinary bladder as a physiological reservoir that moderates dehydration in a large desert lizard, the Gila monster Heloderma suspectum.” Journal of Experimental Biology 210 (8): 1472-1480. OPEN ACCESS
Flannery, Tim 2002. The future eaters: an ecological history of the Australasian lands and people. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3943-4.
Fry, Bryan G., Nicolas Vidal, Janette A. Norman, Freek J. Vonk, Holger Scheib, S. F. Ryan Ramjan, Sanjaya Kuruppu, et al. 2006. “Early Evolution of the Venom System in Lizards and Snakes.” Nature 439 (7076): 584–88.
Hargreaves, A. D., M. T. Swain, D. W. Logan, and J. F. Mulley. 2014. “Testing the Toxicofera: comparative transcriptomics casts doubt on the single, early evolution of the reptile venom system.” Toxicon 92: 140-156. OPEN ACCESS
Hawlitschek, Oliver, Mark D. Scherz, Nicolas Straube, and Frank Glaw. 2016. “Resurrection of the Comoran Fish Scale Gecko Geckolepis Humbloti Vaillant, 1887 Reveals a Disjunct Distribution Caused by Natural Overseas Dispersal.” Organisms Diversity and Evolution 16 (1): 289–98.
Köhler, Gunther, Hans-Helmut Diethert, Ronald A. Nussbaum, and Christopher J. Raxworthy. 2009. “A Revision of the Fish Scale Geckos, Genus Geckolepis Grandidier (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Madagascar and the Comoros.” Herpetologica 65 (4): 419–35.
Laver, Rebecca J., Deni Purwandana, Achmad Ariefiandy, Jeri Imansyah, David Forsyth, Claudio Ciofi, and Tim S. Jessop. 2012. “Life-History and Spatial Determinants of Somatic Growth Dynamics in Komodo Dragon Populations.” PLoS ONE 7 (9): 1–10. OPEN ACCESS
Sims, David W., Emily J. Southall, Nicolas E. Humphries, Graeme C. Hays, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Jonathan W. Pitchford, Alex James, et al. 2008. “Scaling Laws of Marine Predator Search Behaviour.” Nature 451 (7182): 1098–1102.
Other Links/Mentions:
BBC Planet Earth II - Islands Clip on Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q05CSZAa8U
BBC Zoo Quest for a Dragon 6 http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/attenborough/7005.shtml
Music – http://www.purple-planet.com