cwcasey's blog

The social structure of killer whales is very distinct. When focusing on resident killer whales specifically, it is important to note that the basic social unit is called a matriline. This is a group of killer whales which are connected by maternal descent. This core group is highly stable with bonds that are extremely strong. Individuals are rarely seen apart for more than a few hours. Studies conducted have shown that individuals have not been seen to permanently leave any of these observed resident matrilines. Matrilines may consist from 1 to 4 generations of related whales. Pods are the next social structure - which consist of related matrilines that travel and hunt together. Pods are less stable and it is not unusual that a matriline will break away from the pod for an extended period of time. Beyonds pods, are clans. Clans are made up of pods with similar vocal dialects, and may be related. Pods may have developed from one ancestral pod which fragmented over time. Pods from different clans are frequently seen traveling together. The last social level is a community. Whales do not share common maternal links or vocal similarities, but simply share a geographic range.

    Similar to resident killer whales, the matriline is basic social unit in transient whales. However they are typically smaller in size, and juvenile and adult offspring can disperse for long periods of time or even permanently. Consistency in grouping patterns is not common. Associations are more dynamic in transient killer whales as well.

The social structure of killer whales is very distinct. When focusing on resident killer whales specifically, it is important to note that the basic social unit is called a matriline. This is a group of killer whales which are connected by maternal descent. This core group is highly stable with bonds that are extremely strong. Individuals are rarely seen apart for more than a few hours. Studies conducted have shown that individuals have not been seen to permanently leave any of these observed resident matrilines. Matrilines may consist from 1 to 4 generations of related whales. Pods are the next social structure - which consist of related matrilines that travel and hunt together. Pods are less stable and it is not unusual that a matriline will break away from the pod for an extended period of time. Beyonds pods, are clans. Clans are made up of pods with similar vocal dialects, and may be related. Pods may have developed from one ancestral pod which fragmented over time. Pods from different clans are frequently seen traveling together. The last social level is a community. Whales do not share common maternal links or vocal similarities, but simply share a geographic range.

    Similar to resident killer whales, the matriline is basic social unit in transient whales. However they are typically smaller in size, and juvenile and adult offspring can disperse for long periods of time or even permanently. Consistency in grouping patterns is not common. Associations are more dynamic in transient killer whales as well.

Orca whales - also known as “Killer Whales” or Orcinus Orca, are one of the world’s most powerful predators. They are often found in cold, coastal waters but can be found from polar regions all the way to the equator. Orcas are known to feast on many marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and other whales. They also eat fish, squid, and sea birds. A notable part of the Orca’s lifestyle is their hunting technique - in which they hunt in deadly groups of 5 to 50 whales, called “pods.” There are three subgroups of orcas; residents, transients, and offshore orcas. We will focus our attention on Residents and Transients, as they have the most research conducted on them. A resident pod can include from 5 to 50 Orcas. A transient pod usually consists of 1- 6 Orcas. The difference in pod sizes is likely to due to the subgroups’ feeding habits. Resident pods typically feed on fish, specifically salmon. Resident orcas herd schools of fish to get their food, and this method is most effective with a large number of orcas. Transient orcas prey mainly on marine mammals. This can be a time-consuming, demanding process as the orcas must cooperate to sneak attack their prey. Hence why their pods are smaller in size.

    The act of cooperative hunting is a distinct and unique process in which many factors come into play. Transients are generally more quiet when communicating. This may be due to the fact that they are hunting marine mammals, and must approach them quietly to avoid being detected. Transients use echolocation - but only in single clicks. Transient pods in the same region, communicate with simple language and do not vary in dialects. Resident Orcas are typically more vocal, relying heavily on echolocation to find their prey. Because their main food source, salmon, does not have good hearing, they do not have to worry about being quiet. Each Resident pod has their own set of complex calls.

US:

• HIV was prevalent in US for of years prior to the first known case of AIDS

• First recognized in NY and NJ in 1971, made its way to Cali and Georgia by 1979

• 1980:

  • From October 1980 to May 1981 five homosexual men were treated for biopsy tested Pneumocystis carini pneumonia at THREE different hospitals, two had died

  • Reported by MS Gottlieb, MD, HM Schanker, MD, PT Fan, MD, A Saxon, MD, JD Weisman, DO, Div of Clinical Immunology-Allergy; Dept of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine; I Pozalski, MD, Cedars-Mt. Siani Hospital, Los Angeles; Field services Div, Epidemiology Program Office, CDC.

• 1981:

  • By July 1981, 41 cases of aggressive Kaposi Sarcoma (rare form of relatively benign cancer found in the elderly) among homosexual men in New York and California

  • 8 victims died in 24 months or less

  • https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/us/rare-cancer-seen-in-41-homosexuals.html

  • By the end of 1981 121 people had died

• 1983:

  • 3,064 cases of AIDS were diagnosed

  • 1,292 People had died from complications to the disease

  • Government does nothing to acknowledge it

• 1984:

  • 4,251 people had died

  • US Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler announced that Dr. Robert Gallo of the NCI had isolated AIDS virus -HTLV-III

  • Heckler-"We hope to have a vaccine [against AIDS] ready for testing in about two years.“ … "yet another terrible disease is about to yield to patience, persistence and outright genius

  • Government still does not acknowledge the existence of AIDS

• 1985:

  • 5,636 people had died from AIDS

  • PRESIDENT FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES AIDS

• In total, 13,309 people died from complications to AIDS before it was recognized by the US government system as an issue to be tended too

                Oropendola is a family of song bird in the tropics which branches into three distinct genera. Each of which have been the focus of vocal study and patterns in their song structure. Of the three genera, 32 different song structures have been analyzed and show little to no variation between the selective species. To bolster these findings, the songs of the birds were mapped onto a molecular phylogeny. This was done to look for analytical data in relation to retention, convergence, conservation, and reversal. Once analyzed, it was proven that between the species, the characteristics of song are highly conserved in the phylogeny. Roughly two thirds of the variations showed no signs of convergence or reversal. These finding show that song selection in Oropendola is not unique to the species, rather it is a familial song and thus traveling flocks are able to intercommunicate with other species.

Plumage Trait: Breast Color

    The breast color seemed to evolve to become yellow one time. A number of the outgroups had black or grey coloration but once the yellow color evolved it was passed down the lineage, with the only exceptions being in the eight species that evolved out of the yellow coloration later. The purpose for the coloration, as discussed in class, is to attract mates. The bright yellow color clearly was advantageous from this perspective as many of the species continue to show this trait today.

Plumage Trait: Throat Color

    The throat color seemed to evolve the dominant yellow shade twice and the trait seemed to be lost at least twice as well. As far as the outgroups are concerned, the dominant yellow that appears in more derived species was never present. The reason behind the yellow coloration could have been sexual selection or a method of camouflage, but that depends on the habitat of the species.

The first step was to look for patterns among the various species of Setophaga. This included looking at pictures in the Powerpoint that we were presented with, cross referencing those pictures with other images from google images to obtain better views, and study the museum specimens. Afterwards we took note of any specific patterns that were evident in various parts of the bodies of the Setophaga. The patterns were then compiled into a list of ten characteristics that the group felt appropriately depicted the phylogenetic tree given to us at tje beginning of the activity. Once the list was formed, we then went through every picture on the PowerPoint to determine whether or not each species expressed the desired trait. There were instances where the data was collected as a numerical value, with a “1” representing that the trait was present and a “0” representing an absent trait. There were also instances where the traits present had to be identified with colors, adding more variation to the table. Four plumage traits that showed an interesting dispersal among the species were picked from the list of ten characteristics and mapped onto cladograms. The four plumage traits depicted in the cladograms are “breast color”, “throat color”, “homologous nape”, and “wing bar”.

The first step was to look for patterns among the various species of Setophaga. This included looking at pictures in the Powerpoint that we were presented with, cross referencing those pictures with other images from google images to obtain better views, and study the museum specimen. The next step was to take note of any specific patterns that were evident in various parts of the bodies of the setophaga. The patterns were then compiled into a list of ten characteristics that the group felt appropriately depicted the phylogenetic tree that we were given. Once the list was formed, we then went through every picture on the PowerPoint to determine whether or not each species showed a trait. There were instances where the traits were collected as a numerical value, with a “1” representing that the trait was present and a “0” representing an absent trait. There were also instances where the traits present had to be identified with colors, adding more variation to the table. Four plumage traits that showed an interesting dispersal among the species were picked from the list of ten characteristics and mapped onto cladograms. The four plumage traits depicted in the cladograms are “breast color”, “throat color”, “homologous nape”, and “wing bar”.

While collecting data, intra-personal reliability analysis was conducted as to maintain a high level of accuracy. Similar to the Time budget analysis (Figure 1 and Figure 2) a subset of behaviors was derived from the original list in order to best capture data in as few keystrokes as possible. Between a series of tests, multiple reliability tests were conducted in order to elevate the overall original score of 30 to a high of 50. This means that during the scoring process, we were able to successfully line up the correct timestamp and behavior 32 out of 63 times. When the tests were broken down in order to see the reliability of each behavior; feeding behaviors scored 41, play behaviors scored 44, grooming scored 19, communication scored 21, and locomotive behaviors scored 18.

    Once the reliability scores were assessed, we used the selected behaviors to conduct a time budget analysis (Figure 1). Compared are the proportions of time spent Feeding (53%), Playing (8%), Grooming (16%), Communicating (9%), and Locomoting (13%). Behaviors were analyzed over a 10 minute span and organized in order to gauge which set of behavior is more prevalent over the monitored time span. Such results are indicative of the foals selective behavior when in its homeostatic environment. After the original time budget analysis was conducted, it was important to us to see what the break down of the behaviors were like when the foal was in the presence of its mother, when it was with another foal, and when it was alone (Figure 2). Focusing on the feeding behaviors and communicative behaviors, we observed that feeding took up a larger proportion of time, the foal seldom fed with other foals, and chose to feed more with its mother. Conversely, we observed that the foal primarily decided to communicate with its mother as opposed to other foals or sending signals by itself.

While collecting data, intra-personal reliability analysis was conducted as to maintain a high level of accuracy. Similar to the Time budget analysis (Figure 1 and Figure 2) a subset of behaviors was derived from the original list in order to best capture data in as few keystrokes as possible. Between a series of tests, multiple reliability tests were conducted in order to elevate the overall original score of 30 to a high of 50. This means that during the scoring process, we were able to successfully line up the correct timestamp and behavior 32 out of 63 times. When the tests were broken down in order to see the reliability of each behavior; feeding behaviors scored 41, play behaviors scored 44, grooming scored 19, communication scored 21, and locomotive behaviors scored 18.

    Once the reliability scores were assessed, we used the selected behaviors to conduct a time budget analysis (Figure 1). Compared are the proportions of time spent Feeding (53%), Playing (8%), Grooming (16%), Communicating (9%), and Locomoting (13%). Behaviors were analyzed over a 10 minute span and organized in order to gauge which set of behavior is more prevalent over the monitored time span. Such results are indicative of the foals selective behavior when in its homeostatic environment. After the original time budget analysis was conducted, it was important to us to see what the break down of the behaviors were like when the foal was in the presence of its mother, when it was with another foal, and when it was alone (Figure 2). Focusing on the feeding behaviors and communicative behaviors, we observed that feeding took up a larger proportion of time, the foal seldom fed with other foals, and chose to feed more with its mother. Conversely, we observed that the foal primarily decided to communicate with its mother as opposed to other foals or sending signals by itself.