DOCSLIB.ORG

A Comparative Study in Morphological Defects of Semen from African Lions

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Comparative Study in Morphological Defects of Semen from African Lions GHENT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE Academic year 2015 – 2016 A comparative study in morphological defects of semen from African Lions (Panthera leo) and Caracal (Caracal caracal): collected by urethral catheterization and electro- ejaculation. By Maaike DE SCHEPPER Supervisor: DVM. Cyrillus Ververs Co-Supervisor: Prof. dr. Peter E.J. Bols. Research thesis as part of the Master's Dissertation © 2016 Maaike de Schepper. Universiteit Gent, its employees and/or students, give no warranty that the information provided in this thesis is accurate or exhaustive, nor that the content of this thesis will not constitute or result in any infringement of third-party rights. Universiteit Gent, its employees and/or students do not accept any liability or responsibility for any use which may be made of the content or information given in the thesis, nor for any reliance which may be placed on any advice or information provided in this thesis. GHENT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE Academic year 2015 – 2016 A comparative study in morphological defects of semen from African Lions (Panthera leo) and Caracal (Caracal caracal): collected by urethral catheterization and electro- ejaculation. By Maaike DE SCHEPPER Supervisor: DVM. Cyrillus Ververs Co-Supervisor: Prof. dr. Peter E.J. Bols. Research thesis as part of the Master's Dissertation © 2016 Maaike de Schepper. Preface First of all I want to thank DVM. Cyrillus Ververs for being my supervisor. Thank you for helping brainstorming about all the interesting different topics and fully believing in the one it became! Thank you for reading everything until the last moment and always staying positive about my deadlines! Second of all I want to thank Ilse Luther, for taking me under your wings, without even knowing me! Teaching me everything about semen and semen collection, but also for the nice visits I could bring to your place and the lovely talks and wine! Hope to see you soon again! I want to thank Willie and Jill Jacobs from UKUTULA research centre for the help with my research, without you I wouldn’t have anything to research about and I hope this is useful for you in the (near) future. DVM. Gerardus Scheepers, thank you for being the vet during my research and teaching me about ultrasound and anaesthetics. Thank you Professor Dr.Peter Bols for reviewing my research and giving comments and tips if necessary. DVM Kristof Hermans, for helping me with my statistics, which all sounds like Chinese to me! Dr. Johan Marais, thank you for taking me with you on a Saving the Survivors mission. And be such an inspiration about wildlife conservation and medicine. Hope to see you and work with you again any time soon! And of course a big thank you for my parents, who are always supporting me and made it possible to go Pretoria and Onderstepoort for my Erasmus and my research. And last but not least, my friends and classmates, either in Ghent or in Pretoria. Specially Tom, Carlien, Dennis and Ezit for being always there for me to talk, chill, laugh and having my back! Table of content Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... Table of content ....................................................................................................................................... Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 1 Samenvatting ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3 1 Anatomy of the male reproductive organs ...................................................................................... 7 1.1 Testes ........................................................................................................................................ 7 1.2 Epididymis .................................................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Accessory sex glands ................................................................................................................. 8 1.3.1 Prostate ................................................................................................................................... 8 1.3.2 Bulbourethral glands ............................................................................................................... 8 1.4 Urethra and penis ........................................................................................................................ 8 2 Spermatogenesis .............................................................................................................................. 10 2.1 Spermatogonia ........................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Spermatocytes ........................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Spermiogenesis ......................................................................................................................... 10 3 Classify origin of defects ................................................................................................................. 11 3.1 Morphology ................................................................................................................................ 11 3.1.1 The head ............................................................................................................................... 12 3.1.2 The tail ................................................................................................................................... 12 3.2 Defects ........................................................................................................................................ 14 3.2.1 Head defects ......................................................................................................................... 15 3.2.2. Midpiece defects .................................................................................................................. 15 3.2.3 Tail defects ............................................................................................................................ 16 4 Collecting methods .......................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Urethral catheterization ............................................................................................................. 16 4.2 Electro-ejaculation ..................................................................................................................... 17 5 Materials and Methods ..................................................................................................................... 17 5.1 Animal species and management ............................................................................................ 17 5.2 Immobilisation ............................................................................................................................ 18 5.3 Semen collection ....................................................................................................................... 18 5.4 Semen processing ..................................................................................................................... 19 5.4.1 Macroscopic evaluation ......................................................................................................... 20 5.4.2 Microscopic evaluation .......................................................................................................... 20 5.5 Data analysis .............................................................................................................................. 21 6 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 21 7 Discussion......................................................................................................................................... 27 8 References ........................................................................................................................................ 29 9 Appendix I ......................................................................................................................................... 31 Abstract In this research semen of four African lions and two caracals was collected examined. The semen was collected through urethral catheterization and electro-ejaculation. Urethral catheterization is a more recent and friendly way to collect semen. This due to low cost, field friendly and simple ways to apply. An α2agonist is used as a general anaesthetic and is necessary for the semen release into the prostate gland. Form this it can be collected by an urethral catheter. Lions showed 66% live spermatozoa on average from which an average of 15% normal morphology. The caracal showed 88% living spermatozoa per ejaculate 12% normal morphology. The most dominant abnormalities seen by lions and caracals were: dag defects, diadem defects, distal droplets and knobbed acrosomes. Key words:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Genital Morphology Linked to Social Status in the Bank Vole (Myodes Glareolus)
    Behav Ecol Sociobiol (2012) 66:97–105 DOI 10.1007/s00265-011-1257-4 ORIGINAL PAPER Genital morphology linked to social status in the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) Jean-François Lemaître & Steven A. Ramm & Nicola Jennings & Paula Stockley Received: 29 September 2010 /Revised: 29 August 2011 /Accepted: 30 August 2011 /Published online: 13 September 2011 # Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract Since genital morphology can influence the spinosity did not differ according to male social status or outcome of post-copulatory sexual selection, differences in show evidence of positive allometry. We conclude that the genitalia of dominant and subordinate males could be a dominant male bank voles may benefit from an enlarged factor contributing to the fertilisation advantage of domi- baculum under sperm competition and/or cryptic female nant males under sperm competition. Here we investigate choice and that differences in penile morphology for the first time if penile morphology differs according to according to male social status might be important but male social status in a promiscuous mammal, the bank vole as yet largely unexplored source of variation in male (Myodes glareolus). In this species, dominant males reproductive success. typically achieve higher reproductive success than subordi- nates in post-copulatory sexual selection, and male genital Keywords Allometry. Baculum . Genitalia . Penile spines . morphology is complex, including both a baculum (os Sexual selection . Social dominance . Sperm competition penis) and penile spines. Our results show that despite no difference in body size associated with male social status, baculum width is significantly larger in dominant male Introduction bank voles than in subordinates. We also found evidence of positive allometry and a relatively high coefficient of Understanding the causes of variation in male reproductive phenotypic variation in the baculum width of male bank success is a key goal of sexual selection research.
    [Show full text]
  • Sperm Competition and Male Social Dominance in the Bank Vole (Myodes Glareolus)
    SPERM COMPETITION AND MALE SOCIAL DOMINANCE IN THE BANK VOLE (MYODES GLAREOLUS) Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by Jean-Fran^ois Lemaitre 1 Table of contents List of Tables.......................................................................................................................................6 List of Figures.....................................................................................................................................8 Declaration of work conducted.................................................................................................... 10 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................13 Chapter 1: General introduction............................................................................................... 15 1.1 Chapter overview........................................................................................................... 15 1.2 Sexual selection..... .......................................................................................................... 15 (a) Sexual selection............................................................................................................... 15 (b) Sexual selection and sex-roles........................................................................................16 (c) Pre-copulatory sexual selection......................................................................................18
    [Show full text]
  • The Morphological Characters of the Male External Genitalia of the European Hedgehog (Erinaceus Europaeus) G
    Folia Morphol. Vol. 77, No. 2, pp. 293–300 DOI: 10.5603/FM.a2017.0098 O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E Copyright © 2018 Via Medica ISSN 0015–5659 www.fm.viamedica.pl The morphological characters of the male external genitalia of the European hedgehog (Erinaceus Europaeus) G. Akbari1, M. Babaei1, N. Goodarzi2 1Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran 2Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran [Received: 7 June 2017; Accepted: 11 September 2017] This study was conducted to depict anatomical characteristics of the penis of he- dgehog. Seven sexually mature male European hedgehogs were used. Following anaesthesia, the animals were scarified with chloroform inhalation. Gross penile characteristics such as length and diameter were thoroughly explored and measu- red using digital callipers. Tissue samples stained with haematoxylin and eosin and Masson’s trichrome for microscopic analysis. The penis of the European hedgehog was composed of a pair of corpus cavernosum penis and the glans penis without corpus spongiosum penis. The urethra at the end of penis, protruded as urethral process, on both sides of which two black nail-like structures, could be observed. The lower part was rounded forming a blind sac (sacculus urethralis) with a me- dian split below the urethra. Microscopically, the penile bulb lacked the corpus spongiosum penis, but, corpus spongiosum glans was seen at the beginning of the free part. In the European hedgehog, entirely stratified squamous epithelium of penile urethra, absence of corpus spongiosum penis around the urethra and bilateral urethral glands are basically different compared with other mammals.
    [Show full text]
  • Female Reproductive Senescence Across
    Female reproductive senescence across mammals: A high diversity of patterns modulated by life history and mating traits Jean-François Lemaître, Victor Ronget, Jean-Michel Gaillard To cite this version: Jean-François Lemaître, Victor Ronget, Jean-Michel Gaillard. Female reproductive senescence across mammals: A high diversity of patterns modulated by life history and mating traits. Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, Elsevier, 2020, 192, pp.111377. 10.1016/j.mad.2020.111377. hal-03060282 HAL Id: hal-03060282 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03060282 Submitted on 14 Dec 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 1 Female reproductive senescence 2 across mammals: a high diversity of 3 patterns modulated by life history 4 and mating traits 5 6 Jean-François Lemaître1, Victor Ronget2 & Jean-Michel Gaillard1 7 8 9 1 Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive UMR 5558, F-69622, 10 Villeurbanne, France. 11 2 Unité Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, F- 12 75016 Paris, France. 13 14 15 16 Article for the special issue “Understanding the biology of aging to better intervene” 17 18 19 20 1 21 ABSTRACT 22 23 Senescence patterns are highly variable across the animal kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • Prepubertal Gonadectomy in Shelter Cats: Nathalie Porters
    Prepubertal gonadectomy in shelter cats: Anaesthesia, surgery and effect of age at time of gonadectomy on health and behaviour Nathalie Porters Dissertation submitted in the fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Veterinary Sciences (PhD), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Ghent University 2014 Promoter Prof. Dr. Hilde de Rooster Co-promoters Prof. Dr. Ingeborgh Polis Dr. Christel Moons Department of Medicine and Clinical Biology of Small Animals Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Ghent University This PhD was funded by the Federal Public Service of Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment for 3 years, by the Facultaire Commissie Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FCWO) of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for 6 months, and by the Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds (BOF) of Ghent University for 6 months. Printing and distribution of this thesis was enabled through the support of: Porters, Nathalie Prepubertal gonadectomy in shelter cats: anaesthesia, surgery and effect of age at time of gonadectomy on health and behaviour Universiteit Gent, Faculteit Diergeneeskunde Vakgroep Geneeskunde en Klinische Biologie van de Kleine Huisdieren ISBN: 9789058643827 Table of Contents Table of Contents List of abbreviations 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3 1. Introduction 5 2. Anaesthesia and surgery 7 2.1. The paediatric patient: anaesthesia- and surgery-related concerns 7 2.2. Criteria for anaesthetic and surgical protocols in shelter medicine 9 3. Gonadal hormones, gonadectomy and physical development 14 3.1. Urogenital disorders 14 3.2. Growth-related problems 15 3.3. Overweight 17 3.4. Immune regulation 19 4. Feline behaviour and gonadectomy 20 4.1. Feline biology and social organization 20 4.2.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Groningen Anomalies of the Penis and Scrotum in Adults
    University of Groningen Anomalies of the penis and scrotum in adults Nugteren, Helena Madelinde IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2016 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Nugteren, H. M. (2016). Anomalies of the penis and scrotum in adults: A multidisciplinary approach. [Groningen]: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 12-11-2019 Anomalies of the penis and scrotum in adults A multidisciplinary approach Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. E. Sterken en volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties. De openbare verdediging zal plaatsvinden op maandag 28 november 2016 om 16:15 uur Helena Madelinde Nugteren geboren op 7 maart 1983 te Delfzijl Sponsoring: Financial support for the publication of this thesis was generously granted by: AbbVie B.V., Amgen B.V., Astellas Pharma B.V., Bayer B.V., ChipSoft, Ferring B.V., Goodlife, GlaxoSmithKline B.V., Hitachi Medical Systems, Ipsen Farmaceutica B.V., Menarini Farma Nederland, Pfizer B.V., Pohl Boskamp, P.W.
    [Show full text]
  • Modeling the Evolution of Visual Sexual Signaling, Receptivity, and Sexual Signal Reliability Among Female Primates
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2017 Modeling the evolution of visual sexual signaling, receptivity, and sexual signal reliability among female primates Kelly Anne Rooker University of Tennessee, Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Rooker, Kelly Anne, "Modeling the evolution of visual sexual signaling, receptivity, and sexual signal reliability among female primates. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2017. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4710 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Kelly Anne Rooker entitled "Modeling the evolution of visual sexual signaling, receptivity, and sexual signal reliability among female primates." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Mathematics. Sergey Gavrilets, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Judy Day, Timothy Schulze, Yu-Ting Chen, Lowell Gaertner Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Modeling the evolution of visual sexual signaling, receptivity, and sexual signal reliability among female primates A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Kelly Anne Rooker August 2017 c by Kelly Rooker, 2017 All Rights Reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Sperm Competition Risk and Male Genital Anatomy: Comparative Evidence for Reduced Duration of Female Sexual Receptivity in Primates with Penile Spines
    Evolutionary Ecology 16: 123–137, 2002. Ó 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Research article Sperm competition risk and male genital anatomy: comparative evidence for reduced duration of female sexual receptivity in primates with penile spines P. STOCKLEY Animal Behaviour Group, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Leahurst, Chester High Road, Neston, South Wirral, CH64 7TE, UK (tel.:+44-151-7946107; fax: +44-151-7946009; e-mail: [email protected]) Received 27 March 2001; accepted 18 February2002 Co-ordinating editor: P. Harvey Abstract. Selection pressures influencing the wayin which males stimulate females during copu- lation are not well understood. In mammals, copulatorystimulation can influence female remating behaviour, both via neuroendocrine mechanisms mediating control of sexual behaviour, and po- tentiallyalso via effects of minor injuryto the female genital tract. Male adaptations to increase copulatorystimulation maytherefore function to reduce sperm competition risk byreducing the probabilitythat females will remate. This hypothesis was tested using data for primates to explore relationships between male penile anatomyand the duration of female sexual receptivity.It was predicted that penile spines or relativelylarge bacula might function to increase copulatorystim- ulation and hence to reduce the duration of female sexual receptivity. Results of the comparative analyses presented show that, after control for phylogenetic effects, relatively high penile spinosity of male primates is associated with a relativelyshort duration of female sexual receptivitywithin the ovarian cycle, although no evidence was found for a similar relationship between baculum length and duration of female sexual receptivity. The findings presented suggest a new potential function for mammalian penile spines in the context of sexual selection, and add to growing evidence that sperm competition and associated sexual conflict are important selection pressures in the evolution of animal genitalia.
    [Show full text]
  • Determining the Onset of Reproductive Capacity in Free-Roaming, Unowned Cats
    1 AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Ellie Bohrer for the degree of Honors Baccalaureate of Science in Zoology presented on April 21, 2016. Title: Determining the Onset of Reproductive Capacity in Free-Roaming, Unowned Cats . Abstract approved: ______________________________________________________ Michelle Kutzler The purpose of this thesis was to determine if an underlying biological cause exists for the exuberant reproductive success in free-roaming unowned (FRU) cats. The hypothesis for this thesis was that FRU tom and queen cats have reproductively adapted to man-made sterilization efforts by lowering the age at which they enter puberty. For domestic cats, puberty is reported to occur around 8 months of age. Cats were presented for surgical sterilization at either a feral cat clinic or at a local Humane Society during August-October 2014 and 2015. Age was determined by records provided from feral cat colony managers and confirmed with dental eruption patterns. The age groups for tom cats were: 2-2.5 months (weanling; n=6), 3-4 months (juvenile; n=6), 5-6 months (pubertal; n=6), and 12-24 months (adult; n=6). Queens were grouped by age (<4 months (pet n=5, FRU n=10) and 4-6 months (pet n=2, FRU n=7)). For tom cats, the penis was evaluated to determine if spines were present and the contents from both vasa deferentes were milked onto a microscope slide, mixed with eosin-nigrosin stain, spread with a spreader slide, allowed to air dry and evaluated at 1000X. The percentage of sperm with normal morphology was determined after evaluating 100 sperm/slide.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Organisation and Mating System of the Fosa (Cryptoprocta Ferox)
    Social organisation and mating system of the fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox) Dissertation zur Erlangung des mathematisch‐naturwissenschaftlichen Doktorgrades „Doctor rerum naturalium“ der Georg‐August‐Universität Göttingen vorgelegt von Mia‐Lana Lührs aus Gehrden Göttingen 2012 Referent: Prof. Dr. Peter M. Kappeler Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Eckhard W. Heymann Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 16. Juli 2012 To my home Hamelspringe. CONTENTS GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 Simultaneous GPS‐tracking reveals male associations in a solitary carnivore with Peter M. Kappeler Under review in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 9 CHAPTER 2 An unusual case of cooperative hunting in a solitary carnivore with Melanie Dammhahn Journal of Ethology (2010) 28: 379‐383 25 CHAPTER 3 Strength in numbers: males in a carnivore grow bigger when they associate and hunt cooperatively with Melanie Dammhahn and Peter M. Kappeler Revised manuscript for publication in Behavioral Ecology 31 CHAPTER 4 Polyandry in treetops: how male competition and female choice interact to determine an unusual mating system in a carnivore with Peter M. Kappeler Manuscript for submission 45 GENERAL DISCUSSION 59 REFERENCES 67 APPENDIX 85 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 97 SUMMARY 99 ZUSAMMENFASSUNG 101 General Introduction The study of social systems is one of the most insightful fields of behavioural biology because it offers the opportunity to investigate the interaction of a species’ ecology, life‐history, space‐use and reproductive strategies as a whole and thereby meets a behavioural biologist’s innate interest in understanding the diversity of nature. In particular, studying species that evolved unique solutions to evolutionary problems, which appear to contradict predictions of classical theory, is instructive because it allows putting current theory to a test and stimulates the development of new hypotheses.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolution of Reproductive Traits in Sharks and Rays
    EVOLUTION OF REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS IN SHARKS AND RAYS A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health 2018 AMY ROWLEY FACULTY OF BIOLOGY, MEDICINE AND HEALTH 2 Contents LIST OF FIGURES 6 LIST OF TABLES 9 LIST OF APPENDICES 12 GENERAL ABSTRACT 13 DECLARATION 14 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 15 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 16 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 19 1.1 SEXUAL SELECTION 19 1.2 SPERM COMPETITION 22 1.3 CRYPTIC FEMALE CHOICE AND SEXUAL CONFLICT 33 1.4 OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS IN HOW SPERM COMPETITION INFLUENCES THE EVOLUTION OF REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS 34 1.4.1 SPERM NUMBER 35 1.4.2 SPERM MORPHOLOGY 36 1.4.3 SPERM VARIANCE 37 1.4.4 GENITAL MORPHOLOGY 38 1.5 STUDYING EVOLUTIONARY RESPONSES OF REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS TO SPERM COMPETITION 39 1.6 SPERM COMPETITION AND EVOLUTIONARY RESPONSE IN SEXUAL TRAITS IN ELASMOBRANCHS 39 1.6.1 ELASMOBRANCHS 40 1.6.2 SHARKS VS RAYS 41 1.6.3 REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOURS IN ELASMOBRANCHS 41 1.6.4 GENETIC MATING SYSTEMS 43 1.6.5 VARIATION IN REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS 46 1.7 REPRODUCTIVE VARIATION IN MALES 47 1.7.1 TESTES 47 1.7.2 SPERM MORPHOLOGY 48 1.7.3 CLASPERS 49 1.8 REPRODUCTIVE VARIATION IN FEMALES 50 1.8.1 REPRODUCTIVE MODE 50 1.8.2 FECUNDITY 51 1.8.3 SPERM STORAGE 52 1.9 CHALLENGES IN STUDYING ELASMOBRANCH REPRODUCTION 54 1.10 AIMS OF THE THESIS 55 1.11 REFERENCES 56 2. TESTES SIZE INCREASES WITH SPERM COMPETITION RISK AND INTENSITY IN BONY FISH AND SHARKS 72 2.1 ABSTRACT 73 2.2 INTRODUCTION 74 2.3 METHODS 76 3 2.3.1 DATA COLLECTION 76 2.3.2 PHYLOGENY 78 2.3.4 PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSES 79 2.4 RESULTS 81 2.4.1 VARIATION IN SPERM COMPETITION RISK AND INTENSITY AMONG FISHES 81 2.4.2 SPERM COMPETITION RISK, INTENSITY AND TESTICULAR INVESTMENT 83 2.5 DISCUSSION 87 2.6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 89 2.7 REFERENCES 89 CHAPTER 2: SUPPORTING INFORMATION 96 SUPPORTING INFORMATION REFERENCES 105 3.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018 Annual Report on Conservation and Science
    Annual Report on Conservation and Science INTRODUCTION 2 2018 Annual Report on Conservation and Science The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and its member facilities envision a world where, as a result of their work, all people respect, value, and conserve wildlife and wild places. The 2018 Annual Report on Conservation and Science (ARCS) celebrates the conservation efforts, education programs, green (sustainable) business practices, and research projects of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums and certified related facilities. Content in ARCS reflects submissions made to annual surveys available through AZA’s website. Each survey topic has been carefully defined to maximize consistency of reporting throughout the AZA community. AZA’s Wildlife Conservation Committee and Research and Technology Committee review all of the relevant submissions by members to promote even greater consistency. Field conservation focuses on efforts having a direct impact on animals and habitats in the wild. Education programming includes those with specific goals and delivery methods, defined content, and a clear primary discipline and target audience. Mission-focused research projects involve application of the scientific method, are hypothesis (or question)-driven, involve systematic data collection, and analysis of those data and draw conclusions from the research process. Green business practices focus on the annual documentation and usage of key resources: energy, fuel for transportation, waste, and water – as well as identification of specific green practices being implemented. AZA is grateful to each member that responded to these surveys. The response rate for each 2018 survey was as follows: » field conservation – 92% » education programming – 59% » green business practices – 65% » mission-focused research – 65% While the 2018 ARCS focuses on individual activities undertaken that year, download the 2018 Highlights (available at: aza.org/annual-report-on-conservation-and-science) to learn more about what the AZA community accomplished together.
    [Show full text]