The difficulty of collecting and aging prenatal cetaceans is addressed here, and growth parameters of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) along coastal Texas were estimated using length-at-age information from a broader scope of age classes, including Kinase Inhibitor Library molecular weight late-term fetuses. A Gompertz growth curve fit to pre- and postnatal data underestimated size
parameters, but demonstrated similar growth rate constants (k) to an exclusively postnatal model. However, when growth parameters were broken out, the absolute growth rate (G) and rate of growth decay (g) decreased (0.44 from 0.27 and 0.55 from 0.39, respectively), which underscores the importance of reporting k in its expanded form (G/g). Although the Gompertz fits most age classes well, it cannot explain growth in all age classes.
We argue that a novel sigmoidal model would be more useful for inference. “
“To assess the spectral sensitivities of the retinal visual pigments from the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), we have cloned and sequenced two exons from the rod opsin gene and two exons from the middle-wavelength sensitive (MWS) cone opsin gene in order to determine the amino acids at positions known to be key regulators of the spectral location of the absorbance maximum (λmax). Based on previous mutagenesis models we estimate that the right whale possesses a rod visual pigment with a λmax of
499 nm and a MWS cone visual pigment with PLX3397 price a λmax of 524 nm. Although the MWS cone visual pigment from the right whale is blue-shifted in its 上海皓元 spectral sensitivity like those from odontocetes, the spectral sensitivity of the right whale rod visual pigment is similar to those from terrestrial mammals. “
“We examined the effects of research disturbance on the behavior and abundance of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) at rookeries on Marmot and Ugamak Islands in Alaska. During 3 of 6 yr, researchers intentionally drove all adult and juvenile sea lions off at least part of the beach in order to permanently mark and measure sea lion pups. The research disturbance occurred after the majority of females had bred and when most pups were 1 mo old. We used generalized linear models to determine the relationship between research disturbance and sea lion behavior or abundance. Research disturbance was related to changes in the proportion of sea lions exhibiting two to three of nine behavior metrics: agonistic and resting females and active males at Marmot, and active and resting males and females at Ugamak. Model results indicated that changes lasted between 3 and 20 d depending on the sex, behavior, and rookery. Inclusion of research disturbance into Marmot abundance models did not improve the fit to the data, if variability between years was permitted.