ITN Giraffe Species September 17

species

a group of living organisms consisting of similar indiviuals capable of reproducing and making viable offspring

Controversy over big-game hunting in African came from...

cecil a 13 year old lion was killed when he left a protected reserve. He was part of a long-term study being conducted by University of Oxford

rare and old guraffes have a...

dark coat

Apomorphies

derived traits they are traits characteristic of a species and they did not exist in the ancestor

Artiodactyla

even-toed ungulates whose weight is borne equally by the third and fourth toes ex: okapi and giraffes

The Okapi is known as the ____

forest giraffe

a 2016 study also concluded that living giraffes consist of multiple species. Namely ____ species which have not exchanged genetic information between each other

four

game-managment

game management can have a positive, negative, or no effect on non-target taxa (those living alongside the non-game animals_

Conservation efforts to save giraffes will differ markedly depending on whether we are talking about four species that are ____

geographicaly isolated

The giraffe talley killed was agressive...

he had killed three other younger giraffes that could have contributed to gene pool and promoted gene flow he was keeping the diversity down and by taking him out of gene pool Talley said they were doing a favor all of the meat that resulted from the giraffe was given to a local orphanage and was used to feed kids

Concordance between maternally inherited mitochondrial and biparentally inherited nuclear markers

indicates reproductive isolation for at least four giraffe groups.

species name matters becauseee

it affects policy and wether or not you can trophy hunt if IUCN classifies it a critically endagred animal then no if it is an animal of no concern yes you can

wild giraffes are highly ____ and can interbreed in captivity

mobile

Group of scientists (Berkovich et al.) did not agree that there were four monophyletic clades of giraffes. They found seven problems Problem 3:

original paper did not use phenotypic trait Phenotypic traits can regulate mating patterns and sexual selection that establish a foundation for the 'recognition species concept' Neutral genetic markers provide only a limited perspective on taxonomy because they reflect genetic drift and gene flow and exclude phenotypic traits

Holistic Management (allan savory)

the careful management of cattle on property can help restore degraded land

genetic admixture

the mix of genes that results when individuals have ancestry from more than one subpopulation

quagga

the quagga is no longer living, they are now all extinct in the wild and in captivity it is a variant of the african zebra

Mean price for the cheapest trophy hunting packages (daily rates and trophy fees) for each of four key species.

these dollars will flow directly into employing people (half a billion dollars have been contibuted to African economy) (graph shows mean price for the cheapest trophy hunting packages)

Group of scientists (Berkovich et al.) did not agree that there were four monophyletic clades of giraffes. They found seven problems Problem 5:

"Given that Giraffa camelopardalis is regarded as 'Vulnerable' to extinction, we do not understand why subdividing the single species into four species has obvious conservation implications."

Endangered Species Act

(1973) identifies threatened and endangered species in the U.S., and puts their protection ahead of economic considerations

Which of these animals is the closest living relative to the Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)? A.Camel B.Okapi C.Quaqqa D.Giraffe-necked Antelope E.Kudu

B. Okapi

Group of scientists did not agree that there were four monophyletic clades of giraffes. They found seven problems Problem 1:

Figure 2B shows that South African giraffes are genetically more similar to Masai than to Angolan giraffes, yet Figure 2A combines South African and Angolan giraffes into a single cluster.

Group of scientists (berkovitch et al.) did not agree that there were four monophyletic clades of giraffes. They found seven problems Problem 2:

Figure 3 is based upon a STRUCTURE analysis of 14 microsatellites obtained from 381 individuals, indicates that at least six distinctive subgroups of giraffes are present. The contention in Fennessy et al. that is based on faulty statistics, while their own "multi-locus coalescent-based analyses on sequence data allow for rigorous statistical testing and did not find support for such a grouping" is an unsatisfactory and unconvincing explanation of the discrepancy.

Fennesy's opinion on trophy hunting (giraffe conservation foundation co-founder)

Giraffa Giraffa are increasing in numbers removing them from the population may be necessary because they are eating a lot

Giraffe latin name

Giraffa cameloparadalis

Fennessy et al: Analysis of nuclear gene markers (nDNA) recovered four monophyletic clades;

Giraffa giraffa, G. tippelskirchi, G. reticulata and G. camelopardalis. South African and Angolan giraffe Masai giraffe reticulated giraffe and the northern giraffe

Phylogenetic tree of giraffa cameloparasalis

Giraffes and Okapi are apart of the Giraffidae species - closest relative is the Antilocapridae (pronghorns ) Ruminantia - the design of the stomach is different. - the animals are vegetarian but they have stomach pouches in which they digest plant material Giraffes are more closely related to whales than they are to camels

what feature links okapi and giraffe?

Ossicones - they are antler-like protuberances (covered with fur) on the head of giraffes and MALE okapis in giraffes, male use them to fight with each other the ossicones are similar to horns except they are derived from ossified cartilage rather than living bone

Group of scientists (Berkovich et al.) did not agree that there were four monophyletic clades of giraffes. They found seven problems Problem 4:

The authors have not explained why admixture in the wild, an hybridization in capitivity should be ignored in constructing giraffe taxonomy Disagree with this because if you purposefully put Giraffes in captivity they're going to try to mate, looking at things in the wild and in a natural setting is much more realistic

odd-toed ungulates

They bear their weight primarily on their third toes. ex: horse, zebra, rhino Aquatic cetaceans (whales, dolphins etc) eveloved from even-toed ungulates

Cetardiodactyla

Aquatic cetaceans (whales, dolphins, etc) evolved from even-toed ungulates so modern taxonomic classifications combine the Artiodactyla and Cetacea into the Cetardiodactyla

Estimates are that populations of wild giraffes have declined more than___ over the past 30 years.

40% IUCN recohnizes only a single species of Giraffe in Africs and lists it as "vulnerable"

in georgia we have ____ on the endangered species list

50 majority of endangered species are mussles from freshwater lakes and streams gray bats are also endangered

endangered giraffe species

According to the IUCN Currently, two of the nine giraffe subspecies—the Kordofan and Nubian—are critically endangered, while the Reticulated is endangered. Now, after a recent assessment, the Masai subspecies has also been listed as endangered.

pressures of african wildlife correlate with pressures to human populations

Almost all of the growth expected in human population expected over the years will be in Africa that means that the pressure on African wildlife will also be extensive because all those people will be fed - will more and more of these properties be turned into fields for livestock and agriculture

Microsatellites

Also called short tandem repeats (STRs); refers to sequences of repeated base pairs of DNA, usually no more than two to six. Neutral markers good for assessing recent diveregnces these repeats occur during transcription Mutations can occur with this type of disease