Advances in Animal Science and Zoology

Volume 14 first explores progress in drone-based research methods applied to animal ecology, in terms of applications to the field study of large birds of prey. Drone-based research methods have evolved out of the larger technology field of geomatics and are entwined with developments in GPS and biotelemetry, which enable accurate location recording, image capture and specimen behavioral assessment. Next, the authors discuss how our understanding of the reproductive physiology of male honey bees has advanced due to improved breeding techniques in apiculture, especially artificial insemination. A bioindicator is an organism sensitive to environmental changes and, therefore, its absence or scarcity indicates that there is some factor that is modifying the normal conditions of the environment. In one study, the authors explore the way in which amphibians are excellent bioindicators. Mitochondria-rich cells are integral component of the heterocellular amphibian skin epithelium and common to all species, participating in Cl- conductance and H+ secretion. As such, a graphic cell model is used to describe the Cl- conductance pathway based on the available data. The molecular basis of this complex pathway remains to be explored. Four species of closely-related Iguanian lizards coexist along the length of the pampean coastal sand dunes of Argentina in assemblages with different combinations that vary from two to four species, according to the locality. The authors examine community organization and species coexistence of these assemblages at two scales: local and regional. The lizard endemic in the Coachella Valley, a region including cities aiming to benefit from a burgeoning second home-golf resort market, is explored. The entire range of the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard (Uma inornata), was restricted to a 33,500 ha sand dune system that occupied the center of the valley. By 1980 over 95% of that sand dune system was developed or fragmented into parcels too small support lizard populations. The penultimate chapter reviews a number of factors that impinge on shoal-mate choice in fish, including body coloration and pattern, body size, shoal size, sex, behavior, and background coloration. The objective of the concluding work is to compare the size of the right and left bulls of the Tursiops truncates, as well as between males and females. Six morphometric measurements of eight organisms were obtained and a student t was applied for comparison with a significance of p <0.05.