Songbirds are important models for the study of social behaviour and communication. To complement the recent genome sequencing of the domesticated zebra finch, we sequenced the brain transcriptome of a closely related songbird species, the violet-eared waxbill (Uraeginthus granatina). Both the zebra finch and violet-eared waxbill are members of the family Estrildidae, but differ markedly in the...

The seasonally determined demographic structure of two semi-arid rodents, both agricultural pest species (the leaf-eared mouse (Phyllotis darwini) in Chile and the multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis) in Tanzania), is analysed using capture-mark-recapture (CMR) statistical models and measures for elasticity (the relative change in the growth rate due to a relative unit change in the paramet...

Anderson, T.W., M.A. Tiffany and S.H. Hurlbert. 2007. Stratification, sulfide, worms, and decline of the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) at the Salton Sea, California. Lake Reserv. Manage. 23:500–517. Over the last half century the Salton Sea has been an important migratory stopover site for the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis). However, in recent years there have been sporadic mass mortal...

Ammannia auriculata Willd. (eared redstem) has become one of the most troublesome weeds in paddy rice China. Resistance to bensulfuron-methyl (BSM) spread extensively this species. Greenhouse and field experiments were conducted determine how eared redstem biotype density affect competition against rice. In greenhouse experiment, five treatments tested: a BSM-susceptible at low (58 plants m−2, ...

It has long been known from work in both Drosophila and vertebrate systems that the hedgehog signalling pathway is pivotal to embryonic development, but the past 5 years has seen an increase in our understanding of how members of this pathway are crucial to the processes of tumorigenesis. This important link was firmly established with the discovery that mutations in the gene encoding the hedge...

Hedgehog ligands activate an evolutionarily conserved signaling pathway that provides instructional cues during tissue morphogenesis, and when corrupted, contributes to developmental disorders and cancer. The transmembrane protein Dispatched is an essential component of the machinery that deploys Hedgehog family ligands from producing cells, and is absolutely required for signaling to long-rang...

Autonomous non-long terminal repeat (non-LTR) retrotransposons and their repetitive remnants are ubiquitous components of mammalian genomes. Recently, we identified non-LTR retrotransposon families, Ingi-1_AAl and Ingi-1_EE, in two hedgehog genomes. Here we rename them to Vingi-1_AAl and Vingi-1_EE and report a new clade "Vingi," which is a sister clade of Ingi that lacks the ribonuclease H dom...

ABsrnAcr.-Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Cc1)'llOrhinus mjinesquit) use bridges as day roosts in parts of their range, but information on bridge use across their range is lacking. From May to Aug. 2002 we surveyed 1129 bridges (12.5%) within all 46 counties of South Carolina to determine use and selection of bridges as day roosts by big-eared bats and to document their distribution across the sta...