Podcasts about bmc evolutionary biology

Are rare meadow vipers under threat from the world's smoothest snake? We find out, then we chat about why asp vipers come in different colours.  Become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/herphighlights Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/herphighlights/shop Full reference list available here: http://www.herphighlights.podbean.com Main Paper References: Wenner B, Móré A, Radovics D, Bancsik B, Budai M, Rák G, Kovács G, Szabolcs M, Korsós Z, Mizsei E. 2025. The Smooth Snake is not a threat to the Meadow Viper: predator–prey interactions of a reptile specialist snake. Community Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s42974-025-00234-9. Dubey S, Zwahlen V, Mebert K, Monney J-C, Golay P, Ott T, Durand T, Thiery G, Kaiser L, Geser SN, Ursenbacher S. 2015. Diversifying selection and color-biased dispersal in the asp viper. BMC Evolutionary Biology 15:99. DOI: 10.1186/s12862-015-0367-4. Editing and Music: Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com Intro visuals – Paul Snelling  

Who lives at the bottom of the Mariana trench? Scientists have finally revealed the Mariana Trench mystery. Take a look at the deepest creature ever caught there! TIMESTAMPS The Mariana Trench is the deepest area 0:45 The deepest-living fish in the world 2:40 “Ethereal snailfish” 3:12 A mysterious metallic sound 3:38 Deep sea cucumber 5:50 The deep sea anglerfish 6:20 The barreleye fish 7:13 The Champagne Vent 8:05 The 4-inch amoeba 8:35 SUMMARY The Mariana Trench is the deepest area you can find on Earth. Although almost everybody has heard the name, we have shockingly little data about this dark underwater place in the western Pacific Ocean. It's a monumental task mapping the seafloor and taking pictures when the water pressure at the bottom is more than 1,000 times greater than that at the surface! The Mariana Trench houses the deepest parts of our planet. Music: The Cave of Poetry by Savfk (  / savfk  ) is licensed under a Creative Commons license (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redi.... Savfk YouTube channel:    / @savfkmusic   Location of the Mariana Trench: By I, Kmusser, CC BY 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Cut-out from original shown below: By By Masaki Miya et al. - Evolutionary history of anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes): a mitogenomic perspective. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2010, 10:58 doi:10.1186/1471-2148- 10-58, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Pseudoliparis swirei (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae), hadal snailfish from the Mariana Trench: By Gerringer M. E., Linley T. D., Jamieson A. J., Goetze E., Drazen J. C. - Gerringer M. E., Linley T. D., Jamieson A. J., Goetze E., Drazen J. C. (2017). Pseudoliparis swirei sp. nov.: A newly-discovered hadal snailfish (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) from the Mariana Trench. Zootaxa, 4358 (1):161—177. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4358.1.7, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Subscribe to Bright Side : https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook:   / brightside   Instagram:   / brightgram   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me/ Location of the Mariana Trench: By I, Kmusser, CC BY 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Deepest Depth in the Trench (Map view of the bathymetry of southern Mariana Trench area): By University of New Hampshire, http://ccom.unh.edu/theme/law-sea/mar... Pseudoliparis swirei (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae), hadal snailfish from the Mariana Trench: By Gerringer M. E., Linley T. D., Jamieson A. J., Goetze E., Drazen J. C. - Gerringer M. E., Linley T. D., Jamieson A. J., Goetze E., Drazen J. C. (2017). Pseudoliparis swirei sp. nov.: A newly-discovered hadal snailfish (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) from the Mariana Trench. Zootaxa, 4358 (1): 161—177. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4358.1.7, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Cut-out from original shown below: By By Masaki Miya et al. - Evolutionary history of anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes): a mitogenomic perspective. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2010, 10:58 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-58, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Deep-sea Holothurian: By NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas, http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos... Researchers solve mystery of deep-sea fish with tubular eyes and transparent head (The barreleye (Macropinna microstoma): By Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), https://www.mbari.org/barreleye-fish-... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, join Simon on a deep dive through time into the evolution and possible origins of neurodiversity. From the ancient wisdom of neurodivergent shamans to the brilliant minds of Einstein, Darwin, and van Gogh, we'll uncover the hidden stories of how neurodiversity has been shaping our world in unexpected ways.But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. We'll also explore the dark side of how society has often misunderstood and marginalized those who think differently, and how the fight for neurodiversity acceptance is still an ongoing battle.1. Barack, D. L., Ludwig, V. U., Parodi, F., Ahmed, N., Brannon, E. M., Ramakrishnan, A., & Platt, M. L. (2024). Attention deficits linked with proclivity to explore while foraging. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 291(1984), 20222584. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.25842. Basaglia, F. (1987). The Man Who Closed the Asylums: Franco Basaglia and the Revolution in Mental Health Care. John Foot.3. Donald, M. (1991). Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition. Harvard University Press.4. Eisenberg, D. T., Campbell, B., Gray, P. B., & Sorenson, M. D. (2008). Dopamine receptor genetic polymorphisms and body composition in undernourished pastoralists: An exploration of nutrition indices among nomadic and recently settled Ariaal men of northern Kenya. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 8(1), 173. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-8-1735. EurekAlert. (2021, April 7). ADHD and other disorders share the same cognitive deficits. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/6480996. Feynman, R. P. (1985). "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character. W. W. Norton & Company.7. Foucault, M. (1988). Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Vintage.8. Hacking, I. (1975). Why Does Language Matter to Philosophy? Cambridge University Press.9. Laing, R. D. (1967). The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise. Penguin UK.10. Mashour, G. A., & Alkire, M. T. (2013). Evolution of Consciousness: Phylogeny, Ontogeny, and Emergence from General Anesthesia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(Supplement 2), 10357-10364.11. New Atlas. (2023, March 10). Evolutionary benefits of ADHD illuminate why it's so common. https://newatlas.com/science/adhd-evolutionary-benefits-foraging-explore-exploit/13. Rogers, A., & Pilgrim, D. (2014). A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).14. Silberman, S. (2015). NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. Avery.15. Spikins, P. (2013). The Stone Age Origins of Autism. Recent Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorders - Volume II. InTech. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/5388316. Temple Grandin's website: https://www.templegrandin.com/, various YouTube videos and articles.17. Thagard, P. (2013, May 21). When Did Consciousness Evolve?. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hot-thought/201305/when-did-consciousness-evolve18. The Art of Autism. (2020, November 28). Was Napoleon Bonaparte on the Autism Spectrum? https://the-art-of-autism.com/was-napoleon-bonaparAs ever we thank you, our loyal listeners for sticking with us. We would love to hear from you and our Twitter is open @AtypicalThePod for messages and comments. Have a topic you would like us to cover, or do you fancy joining us for a natter, maybe tell us about your area of interest or expertise and share these things with everyone. We would also recommend our friend The Autistic Women for another great view on living with autism and our friends at the All Bets are Off podcast who cover addiction.

Join us for another one of the eight bear species of the world: the giant panda! Find out why we can alllll relate to this iconic species, and guess how many times Charlotte can annoy Pam by bringing up Neanderthals! Find us on all the things: http://linktr.ee/bearsandbrewspodcastSources Cited:Ashworth, James. “Giant Pandas' Supercharged Gut Takes Advantage of Changing Seasons.” Natural History Museum, 19 Jan. 2022, www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/january/giant-pandas-supercharged-gut-takes-advantage-changing-seasons.html#:~:text=Many%20of%20its%20genes%20produce,help%20it%20digest%20its%20meals. Guo, Wei, et al. “The carnivorous digestive system and bamboo diet of giant pandas may shape their low gut bacterial diversity.” Conservation Physiology, vol. 8, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coz104. “History of the Giant Panda.” WWF, 8 June 2004, wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?13588%2FHistory-of-the-Giant-Panda. Hunt, Katie. “Pandas Evolved Their Most Perplexing Feature at Least 6 Million Years Ago.” CNN, 30 June 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/06/30/asia/ancient-panda-bamboo-thumb-sixth-digit-scn/index.html. Krause, Johannes, et al. “Mitochondrial genomes reveal an explosive radiation of extinct and extant bears near the miocene-pliocene boundary.” BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol. 8, no. 1, 28 July 2008, https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-8-220. Pruitt-Young, Sharon. “Finally Some Good News! China Says Giant Pandas Are No Longer Endangered.” NPR, NPR, 9 July 2021, www.npr.org/2021/07/09/1014593425/china-giant-pandas-endangered-vulnerable-iucn#:~:text=The%20International%20Union%20for%20Conservation%20of%20Nature%20removed%20giant%20pandas,officials%20challenged%20at%20the%20time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn about why signaling your status makes it harder to make new friends; the evolutionary reason why humans have so much back pain; and how pretending to understand babies can make them smarter. Signaling your status makes it harder to make new friends by Steffie Drucker Forget the bling: High status-signaling deters new friendships. (2018, August). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/sfpa-ftb081518.php  Garcia, S. M., Weaver, K., & Chen, P. (2018). The Status Signals Paradox. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(5), 690–696. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618783712  Pinsker, J. (2018, September 27). The Misconceptions People Have About Luxury Purchases. The Atlantic; The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/09/buying-luxury-goods-value/571525/  Why do humans have so much back pain? Thank evolution by Grant Currin Human Evolution: Gain Came With Pain. (2013, February 16). Human Evolution: Gain Came With Pain. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/02/human-evolution-gain-came-pain#  Your back pain may be due to evolution and spine shape. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-03/sfu-ybp030420.php  Plomp, K. A., Viðarsdóttir, U. S., Weston, D. A., Dobney, K., & Collard, M. (2015). The ancestral shape hypothesis: an evolutionary explanation for the occurrence of intervertebral disc herniation in humans. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-015-0336-y  Plomp, K. A., Dobney, K., Weston, D. A., Strand Viðarsdóttir, U., & Collard, M. (2019). 3D shape analyses of extant primate and fossil hominin vertebrae support the ancestral shape hypothesis for intervertebral disc herniation. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1550-9  Plomp, K. A., Dobney, K., & Collard, M. (2020). Spondylolysis and spinal adaptations for bipedalism. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 2020(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoaa003  Spondylolysis. (2020). https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/spondylolysis  Keep Pretending To Understand Babies—It Makes Them Smarter by Anna Todd https://curiosity.com/topics/keep-pretending-to-understand-babiesit-makes-them-smarter-curiosity Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing

In the final installment of our two-part series on India, we examine how race and caste have been aligned, disputed, and separated for political ends since the early twentieth century. And we finally get rid of that peacock! Here are some resources for the show: Amar Chitra Katha comic books: https://www.amarchitrakatha.com/us/ ​Bamshad, Michael, et al. . 2001 Genetic Evidence on the Origins of Indian Caste Populations. Genome Research 11(6): 994–1004. Basu, Analabha, Neeta Sarkar-Roy, and Partha P. Majumder. 2016 Genomic reconstruction of the history of extant populations of India reveals five distinct ancestral components and a complex structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(6): 1594-1599. Beteille, Andre. 1967 Race and Descent as Social Categories in India. Daedalus 96(2): 444-463. Chavda, A.L. 2017. Propagandizing the Aryan Invasion Debate: A Rebuttal to Tony Joseph. Dirks, Nicholas. 2001 Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton University Press. [we included this last time, but it’s so central to what we’re discussing that it deserves mention again] Guha, Sumit. 1998 Lower Strata, Older Races, and Aboriginal Peoples: Racial Anthropology and Mythical History Past and Present. The Journal of Asian Studies 57(2): 423-441. Joseph, Tony. 2017. How genetics is settling the Aryan migration debate. The Hindu. Mosse, David. 2018 Caste and Development: Contemporary Perspectives on a Structure of Discrimination and Advantage. World Development 110: 422-436. Parameswaran, Radhika, and Kavitha Cardoza.. 2009 Melanin on the Margins: Advertising and the Cultural Politics of Fair/Light/White Beauty in India. Journalism & Communication Monographs 11(3): 213-274. Reddy, Deepa S.. 2005 The Ethnicity of Caste. Anthropological Quarterly 78(3): 543-584. Reich, David, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Nick Patterson, Alkes L. Price, and Lalji Singh. 2009 Reconstructing Indian population history. Nature 461(7263): 489. Rosenberg, Noah A., Saurabh Mahajan, Catalina Gonzalez-Quevedo, Michael GB Blum, Laura Nino-Rosales, Vasiliki Ninis, Parimal Das et al. . 2006 Low levels of genetic divergence across geographically and linguistically diverse populations from India. PLoS Genetics 2(12): e215. Sengupta, Dhriti, Ananyo Choudhury, Analabha Basu, and Michele Ramsay. 2016 Population stratification and underrepresentation of Indian subcontinent genetic diversity in the 1000 genomes project dataset. Genome Biology and Evolution 8(1): 3460-3470. Shah, A., J. Lerche, R. Axelby, D. Benbabaali, B. Donegan, J. Raj, V. Thakur. 2018 Ground Down by Growth: Tribe, Caste, Class and Inequality in Twenty-First-Century India. London: Pluto Press. Sharma, Smriti. 2015 Caste-Based Crimes and Economic Status: Evidence from India. Journal of Comparative Economics 43(1): 204–226 Silva, Marina, Marisa Oliveira, Daniel Vieira, Andreia Brandão, Teresa Rito, Joana B. Pereira, Ross M. Fraser et al. . 2017 A genetic chronology for the Indian Subcontinent points to heavily sex-biased dispersals. BMC Evolutionary Biology 17(1): 88. (https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-017-0936-9) Viswanath, Rupa. 2014 The Pariah Problem: Caste, religion, and the Social in Modern India. Columbia University Press.

Welcome to episode 57 of the Mountain Nature and Culture Podcast, I'm your host, Ward Cameron and I'm recording this on April 1, 2018. This week I look at three amazing fossils that are teaching palaeontologists about the evolution of some of the world's oldest creatures. I also look at the return of red fox to the Rocky Mountains. It's an action-packed episode so with that said, let's get to it. Some wisdom from John Muir I wanted to start today with a fabulous quote by John Muir. As a hiking guide and naturalist, I see too many people striding through the wilderness, eager to reach a destination, or bag a peak, yet they miss the beauty that's all around them. For me, the best way to enjoy nature is to simply bathe in it. Spend time in the wilderness and let the energy and the ambience wash over you. If you really want to experience the mountain west, then stop, sit down and listen. Wander slowly along trails while filling all of your senses with endless stimulation. Feel the bark of a tree; listen for the sounds that make up the unique chorus of each location; get down on your knees and look at the tiniest things you can find; and become a part of something far bigger than you. John Muir was one of the greatest naturalists, nature writers, and activists that the U.S. has ever produced, along with the likes of Edward Abbey, Rachel Carson, Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Aldo Leopold. He explored the American west during the mid to latter parts of the 19th century and was instrumental in helping to protect landscapes like Yosemite, Sequoia National Park, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Muir first arrived in California in 1868 and soon after made a pilgrimage into the Yosemite Valley. Muir wrote that: "He was overwhelmed by the landscape, scrambling down steep cliff faces to get a closer look at the waterfalls, whooping and howling at the vistas, jumping tirelessly from flower to flower". He was one of the first people to recognize the action of glaciers on the landscape and helped debunk the existing beliefs that the vistas were the result of earthquakes as opposed to glaciers. Muir was instrumental in the creation of Yosemite National Park, first as a state park in 1890, and then as a national park in 1906. In 1892, he helped found the Sierra Club and served as its first president. By the time he died in 1914, he had published some 300 articles and 12 books. John Muir spent his entire life exploring, bathing in, documenting, and fighting to protect natural, intact ecosystems. The John Muir Trail is one of the U.S.'s most beloved trails, yet had you asked what he thought of hiking, this was his response: "I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, 'A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them." - John Muir I couldn't agree more. Next up more Burgess wonders New Burgess Shale Discoveries The various exposures of the Burgess Shales in Yoho and Kootenay National Parks continue to provide new and exciting discoveries. It seems that each year introduces us to species never before described, or spectacular new fossils of old friends that allow palaeontologists to reclassify them based on new evidence revealed. One such fossil is the newly described Habelia optata. This fossil is not new to palaeontology. In fact, Charles Walcott, the original discoverer of the Burgess Shales, described the first specimen in 1912, only three years after he first stumbled on this bonanza of ancient life. A recent study published in BMC Evolutionary Biology has shed some amazing new light on this unique creature according to lead scientist Cédric Aria. In a recent CBC article, he stated: "It's like a centipede or perhaps an insect that would have not one pair of mandibles, but five." One of the challenges with fossils of the Burgess Shales is that they are found between two layers of shale. This leaves a flattened, reflective film in the rock layers. Think of them as a two-dimensional black and white photograph of an ancient creature. This means that each fossil may represent an image of a different angle or aspect of the animal and thus reveal details not visible in earlier samples. It's this constant evolution of understanding that helps fossils to eventually be classified in a much more exacting way. At a minimum, palaeontologists need to see fossils samples that show the side, top, and front views in order to begin to get a better idea of the structure. As new fossils reveal new details, scientists get a deeper understanding of how the animal fits within classic scientific categories. Charles Walcott knew that Habelia was an arthropod, but he didn't have enough information to pin down where it fit within this huge group of animals. Arthropods are one of So, what would you be willing to endure to make it home for Christmas In these modern times? These days trips home usually involve expensive plane fares or long drives on winter roads made safer by winter tires, interior heaters, and modern clothing. What if you were faced with a 112 km snowshoe trek on an unbroken trail in a blizzard - you know, just like your parents told you what it was like to walk to school in the days of yore! Well, Tom Wilson was more than just a mountain man. He was the personal assistant of "Hells Bells Rogers" during his railroad surveys through the Rockies and later started the first guiding operation in the mountains. In December of 1904, Tom was determined to be home for Christmas dinner with his family. His route began at Kootenay Plains where he had his horse ranch. Today it's located along the David Thompson Highway east of the Saskatchewan River Crossing in Alberta. His route would have followed the Siffleur River Valley up and over Pipestone Pass. He then followed the Pipestone River towards its confluence with the Bow River, and then followed the Bow into Banff. He wasn't the first to follow that route. In August of 1859, James Hector of the Palliser Expedition had passed this way. He wrote in his journal: "After camping to the south of the pass, “…opposite to a waterfall which forms the source of Pipe Stone Creek, and where the stream leaps and rushes down a gutter-like channel, from a height of 450 feet,” they set out to, “ascend to the height of land by a steep rocky path that led at some places close by snow that was still lying from last winter. After five miles we got above the woods, and passed over a fine sloping prairie, with big bald mountains on either side. Plants with esculent roots were very abundant here, and many parts of the sward looked as if it had been ploughed, where the bears had been rooting them up like pigs….Two miles further we passed over a bleak bare “divide,” where there was no vegetation, and elevated about 2000 feet above last night’s encampment.” Others had also passed that way. They included Normal Collie, Hugh Stutfield, and Herman Wooley in 1898 as they headed north on an expedition that saw them discovering the Columbia Icefields. Just a few months after Hector had passed through, the Earl of Southesk, James Carnegie, also traversed the pass. These men were all seasoned travellers, but none of them attempted the route in winter. Tom, like all of his contemporaries, would have been kitted out in heavy woolen clothing with leather boots and snowshoes. Here is how Tom described his experience in a letter to pioneer surveyor and founder of the Alpine Club, A. O. Wheeler: "There is not much to tell of my trip over the Pipestone Pass. It was simply the case of a man starting on a seventy-mile snowshoe trip across the mountains to eat his Christmas dinner with his wife and family, and getting there and eating dinner, the pleasure being well worth the trip. I rode to within eight miles of the summit and started early the next morning on snowshoes to cross the pass (8,300 feet). It was snowing a little and very cold when I started and when I got opposite the Clearwater Gap, a blizzard came up. I could not see more than six or eight feet ahead in that grey snow light that makes everything look level. I was on the trail alongside a mountainside, and was afraid of falling down into one of those steep side collars (which you remember on that side), and of breaking my snowshoes, so I turned and went down the mountain to the creek bottom. The snow was seven or eight feet deep and I fell through a snow bridge, getting both feet wet. It was below zero and a long way up to timber whichever way I turned, but I'd never liked hitting the back trail. It was eight o'clock at night before I crossed the summit of the pass and reached the first timber. I got a fire started, but it was drifting and snowing so hard that the snow covered my socks and moccasins as fast as I could wring (sic) them dry, and, owing to the fierce wind, the flames leap in every direction , making it impossible to get near the fire, so at half past nine I gave it up, put on my wet foot gear and snowshoes and started down the valley. I could not see and felt my way with a stick. By daylight I had made three and a half miles; not much, but it kept the circulation going. In the heavy timber I made a fire and dried out. My feet were beginning to pain as they had been thawed out twice already. I made three miles more that day and finished the last of my grub. The big snowshoes sank fifteen inches in the soft new snow and were a big drag on my frozen toes. I saw it meant three or four more days tramping without grub to make Laggan. I made it in three, but the last day I could only make about fifty yards without resting, and my tracks did not leave a very straight line. The chief trouble I had was to keep from going to sleep; it would have been so much easier to quit than to go on. " Wheeler tried to bring some clarity to Tom's adventure. He wrote: "Think for a moment what it really meant; that every time he put on his snowshoes, his toes got frozen owing to the tight shoe straps; that every time he took them off, his feet had to be thawed out; that every step had to raise a load of ten to fifteen pound of soft snow; that wood had to be collected and cut to keep alive during the night; that the fierce pain would drive away sleep; that he had no food, and always before him those interminable, slow, dragging miles of snowy wilderness. It must have required iron determination to make it to the end of the never-ending track, to eat his Christmas dinner with his wife and family. " Like any winter backcountry traveller that has suffered from frostbite, Tom made his way to see Dr. Brett, Banff's resident physician. He is rumoured to have stated: "I hope I won't have to loose (sic) them Doc. I've hade (sic) 'em a long time and I'm sort of used to 'em." Tom was very lucky. He did lose several toes on each foot but he liked to joke that since the doc had removed the same number on each foot, he was still well balanced. I want to thank Roger Patillo for sharing this story in his book The Canadian Rockies Pioneers, Legends and True Tales. Click the title of the book if you'd like to purchase a copy.  Tom was one of many early and modern mountain wanderers to lose toes to frostbite. Even today, it is a real danger for people out on snowshoes, as well as backcountry and cross-country skis. Always plan for changes in weather and remember, unlike Tom, you can always turn back if conditions change for the worse. Are wolves returning to the Bow Valley? The Bow River valley has not been a good home for wolves. Over the years, pack after pack has become established only to gradually get whittled away by vehicle and train impacts, and more recently, human food conditioning. The summer of 2016 was particularly bad for the Bow Valley wolf pack. The summer began on a very high note its 5 adults being joined by 6 new pups making for a total of 11 wolves in the pack. Unfortunately, this situation changed for the worse with four of the pups killed in two separate incidents with trains. The alpha female and another young female were both shot by Park Wardens after becoming accustomed to handouts from campers in the Two Jack Lake Campground. By the end of the season, none of the pups had survived. In a separate incident, one of the remaining wolves was shot by a hunter in B.C. By 2017, there were only two wolves remaining and they dispersed. As of Sept 2017, the alpha male had joined a pack in the southern part of Banff known as the Spray Pack. The surviving female had joined another male and possibly moved out of the area. Paul Paquette is a well-respected biologist who headed the largest wolf study ever undertaken in the Bow Valley. In recent years he was quoted as stating the following about the challenges for wolves in the Bow River valley: “It’s a wildlife ghetto. People need to understand, the Bow Valley has two townsites that are growing, two highways, a corridor for high transmission power lines, dams, golf courses, ski hills … They’ve got all that in the valley, so you can imagine the responses for the wolves and wildlife – it’s a ghetto for them and they’re trying to survive in there.” We are in a constant battle with developers and the town to try to make sure that we can keep wildlife like wolves and grizzly bears on the landscape. Recently, there seems to be a reason for cautious optimism. The Bow Valley is great habitat for wolves when you consider the high numbers of potential prey animals available to them. In a recent interview on CBC, Jesse Whittington, a wildlife ecologist with Parks Canada stated: "We're curious about what's going to happen," said Whittington. "Either the old male and the pack from the Spray could move back into the Bow Valley, or one of the neighbouring packs might slide in." In October of 2017, three wolves were spotted west of Banff near Castle Mountain. These were previously unknown wolves that may be looking for a new place to call home. As Jesse Whittington stated in an interview with the Rocky Mountain Outlook: "If you have a male and female who hook-up and have pups, all of a sudden you could have a pack of seven wolves, and if those pups survive and have pups again, you get a pretty large pack" The Bow Valley has not been kind to its wolves, but we still need them. They play a key role in keeping elk and deer populations in check. It's too easy to look at Banff today and point out the world-class wildlife crossings along the highway and assume that wolves will have an easy time coexisting with people. This couldn't be further from the truth. The section of highway that is fenced is primarily through Banff and a little to the east and west.  Wolves cover vast ranges and the crossing structures only protect them in a small part of their range. The train tracks and Bow Valley Parkway also remain unfenced. Just this past November, two wolves were killed on the Trans-Canada Highway east of Canmore. It was trains that killed 4 of the pack's cubs in 2016. Parks Canada and Canadian Pacific Railway have been conducting ongoing research around the idea of fencing and other wildlife warning systems in areas of highest danger. We also have rampant development in areas like Canmore which can hamper movement through the valley to the east and south into Kananaskis and beyond. And finally, we have the challenge of people on the landscape. More than 90% of the use of our designated wildlife corridors in and around Canmore was by people. If the corridors are viewed as just another recreational trail, then eventually, the wildlife will simply avoid the corridor altogether. In the past, we've been lucky enough to have several wolf packs adjacent to the Bow Valley, for instance in the Cascade and Spray Valleys, but the Bow Valley Pack has come and gone repeatedly due to the many hazards that face them when they arrive in the valley. Let's keep our fingers crossed that these wolves do stick around. We need to do our part to make sure they have the best possible opportunity to survive and thrive. Here are a few things that we can do to help keep our wolves safe: Slow down on highways like the Trans-Canada, Bow Valley Parkway, Highway 40, and Spray Lakes Road Never ever feed wildlife or stand idly by while other people offer food. Keep your distance. Moving ever closer for that selfie puts your life, and the life of the animal, at risk. Obey trail closures. They are there for a reason. If we all make a point of doing what we can to keep wildlife safe and help to educate visitors who may not be aware of the consequences of their actions, then we may be able to help keep wolves on the landscape. Next up 10 New Years Resolutions for the Mountain Parks New Years Resolutions for the Mountain Parks The mountains are more than just a place to hike, bike and explore. They are home to 53 species of mammals, 260 species of birds, 996 species of vascular plants, 407 lichens, 243 mosses, and 53 liverworts (source: http://canadianparks.com/alberta/banffnp/page3.html). There are also almost 90 species of fungi in the mountain parks (source: http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/11896.pdf). Everything we do in the mountains has an impact and here are some resolutions that will help you to better appreciate this beautiful place. Explore less busy sites. More than 95% of visitation to the mountain parks visits the same 2 or 3% of the park, essentially the paved corridors. Many of the attractions along these roads are in serious need of upgrades to help prevent the masses of tourists from creating permanent damage. Quiet Times are the Best Times. If you really want to get the experience that you saw on the brochure, get an alarm clock. The sun comes up early in the mountains during the summer months. If you're on the shores of Lake Louise or Moraine Lake at 6 am, you'll likely have the view all to yourself…and don't tell anybody, but those two sites are best when the sun first hits the mountains. Don't forget the evening though as well. Once the hordes head back to their hotels, the landscape quiets down again and you can have that great experience. Keep track of your sightings. If you see something exciting like a grizzly bear, wolf, cougar, or wolverine - report it. Park managers are always looking to keep tabs on wildlife and sightings helps to add another data point to their wildlife research. Support organizations like the Friends of Kananaskis and Friends of Jasper. These not for profit groups do an amazing job in helping to raise awareness of park issues, run educational programs, offer volunteer opportunities to make a difference on the ground and even operate gift shops and other facilities designed to raise money for their ongoing operation. Read a good book. Our connection to our sense of place always improves with knowledge and understanding. What once was an unknown wilderness suddenly becomes a community of plants, animals, birds, and other living beings - each with an important role to play in the maintenance of the community. Every book that helps you to understand the place you call home can only enhance your ability to feel an even stronger connection to that place. Meet your neighbours. The next time you walk one of the local trails, take the time to learn the story of one new plant, animal, bird, or other residents of the mountain landscape. I say "learn the story", because each one is much more than just their name. Why are they there? What role do they play? What's the coolest thing about them? As you repeat this process, the mountain landscape becomes much more familiar and ever more welcoming as you look forward to the acquaintances you've made and begin to mark the seasons by the comings and goings of old friends. Start up a neighbourhood watch. By this I mean keep an eye on your mountain community and look for changes. Are there new plants on the landscape that weren't there in the past? New birds? Changes in the community often reflect changes in the environment. Every resident of a particular community is there because that habitat offers all the essential requirements they need to survive. Plants need the right amount of moisture, sunlight, soil, nitrogen, and perhaps even a particular neighbour with whom they have a dependent relationship. Every plant will have a different list of needs, as will every bird and animal. A small change to the ecology will be reflected in changes to the individual plants and animals in that community. Simply sit down. We hike, mountain bike, cross-country ski, and snowshoe along the mountain trails season after season and year after year. Sometimes, the best experience can be had by simply sitting quietly and absorbing everything that's around you. Take off your shoes and socks (in the summer of course), and feel connected to the landscape. Listen to the sounds. Can you recognize all the birds around you? Watch the fish rising in the water to eat insects hatching on the surface. Smell the air. Are their particular smells that spark a memory? Smell is the sense most tied to memory and often a strong smell will instantly transport you to a particular place or time in your personal history. For me, the pungent sweet smell of wolf willow represents the smell of home. Talk to a senior. Our sense of place is more than just learning the natural history. To understand the natural history, we also have to understand the ways that people have interacted with it in the past. Somebody that's been on the land for 50 years can share insights that only come with the passing of the years and the experiences that those years brought. The elders are the keepers of the stories. They are a wealth of knowledge and wisdom and time spent talking with elders about their lifetime of adventures and understanding will always help guide you to a new appreciation of the world around you. Be a tourist now and then. Take a tour. Visit a museum or attraction. Fly in a helicopter. Often, we learn more about places we visit then we do about our own backyard. Make a point of seeing the mountains like visitors see them. Spending time with people that are seeing the Rockies for the first time is one of the things that I love the most about being a guide. Every tourist sees something different. They bring a new perspective born of a lifetime of experiences in their past. I'm constantly guided towards new perspectives simply because they are looking at a scene with fresh eyes. Why not make 2018 a year where we commit to understanding and connecting to the mountain landscape around us? If at the end of the year, you've learned a few new plants, or birds, or animals, and how they both benefit and are benefitting other members of the community, then you will have started on an exciting role that will deepen your personal sense of place. I hope to see you out there. Next up, what determines success when bears are relocated outside of their home range? Success of Relocating Grizzly Bears This past summer, people were stunned when Bear 148 was moved far from her home range. Unfortunately, she subsequently wandered across the British Columbia border and was legally shot by a hunter. The media covered this story extensively and in many cases used the wrong terminology. When wildlife managers move a bear to an area within its current home range, we call it relocating the bear. This term refers to moving a bear simply to another area that is still within its territory and within which it can comfortably survive. In cases, such as with 148, where the bear is moved far from its home range, the preferred term is translocated. This means that the bear is moved to completely unfamiliar territory where it doesn't know the seasonal food patterns or their locations. It doesn't know the landscape and it doesn't know the other resident bears into whose territory it has just been placed. As you can imagine, this puts the bear in a very high-risk situation, but just how high risk? What are its chances of surviving so far from its home range? This is one area of study that has been largely neglected until recently. There really had not been any peer-reviewed analyses of the factors that affected survival when a bear was translocated. An article published in the January 2018 issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management evaluated 110 different grizzly translocations within the Alberta Rockies and looked to determine what factors impacted successful movements and looked for ways to increase the success of future translocations. Biologist Sarah Milligan and her fellow researchers defined a successful translocation as one that required no additional management intervention and showed the bear surviving one entire year without returning to its home range. It's well known that the odds are not in favour of the non-resident bear when it is moved to unfamiliar territory. Of the 110 translocations examined, a full 70% were failures. A 30% success rate is still much higher than generally reported in the media. Translocations are never popular, but unfortunately, with some bears, the only other alternative is to shoot it. Conservation officers never make the decision to move a bear lightly. They know the dangers that it will face in its new home but their first priority is the safety of the community. While Bear 148 never injured anyone, it got to the point where conservation officers simply had to make the difficult decision to move her. In order to determine the success of bears in new habitats, biologists needed to better understand how bears currently living in the area use the landscape. Researchers tagged resident bears to learn how they used the landscape, feeding habits, and denning areas. Alberta also has a long history of monitoring bear movement with satellite and radio collars and this historical data is also helpful in studies like this one. One of the biggest challenges with translocating bears is their homing instinct. Many bears will simply abandon their new homes and travel back towards their home range. It is for this reason that Bear 148 was moved north of Jasper National Park. The further the movement, the lower the likelihood that the bear will return home. The quality of the habitat into which a bear is released can also have a strong bearing on reducing the homing instinct. Ideally, the release location should match, as much as possible, the home range in terms of available foods, movement corridors, and denning sites. The study found that the success rate was highest if bears were moved as early as possible in the season. Unfortunately, in many cases, the highest potential for human-grizzly conflicts occurs during buffaloberry season between mid-July and mid-September. Translocated bears also tended to have ranges some 3.25 times larger than resident bears. This shows they needed to cover more territory in order to find sufficient forage to survive. This is likely connected to their being unfamiliar with the landscape. While their home ranges did decrease over time, they continued to be larger than resident bears. Of the translocations that were considered failures, the primary causes were homing, new incidents of conflict, and mortality. Of the 77 failed translocations, 28 bears were killed because of management actions, and 30 failed due to homing. Bears translocated more than 200 km reduced the odds of homing by 95%. When it comes to the timing of winter denning, the study showed no significant difference between resident and translocated bears. The study concluded: "Repeated conflict and mortality were the greatest causes of translocation failure. Our results suggest that the most important factors for translocation success are the level of human-caused mortality risk at the release site and the time of year when the translocation occurred. Specifically, we found that the odds of translocation success decreased with increasing levels of mortality risk surrounding the release site. This result is likely related to the large post-release movements that are typical of many wide-ranging species, which can bring individuals near areas of conflict or mortality risk." Translocation remains an important management tool. Studies like this one help wildlife officers to make the best decisions to increase the opportunities for a successful movement. It's never an easy decision to move an animal away from its home range but the more we understand ways to increase their chances of success, the more the pendulum can move towards reduced mortality. In the central Rockies, people are the biggest problem. We need to work harder to coexist with bears and to respect closures. When people violate closures, it's always the bears that pay the price. And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. Remember that Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source for snowshoe, nature, hiking, and photography guides across the mountain west. We've been sharing the stories behind the scenery for more than 30 years. Don't forget to check out the show notes at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep054 for links to additional information. You can also comment on the stories and subscribe so that you don't miss a single episode. If you'd like to reach out personally, you can hit me up on Twitter @wardcameron and with that said, the sun's out and it's time to go snowshoeing. I'll talk to you next week.

Salamanders feature in episode 16, especially North American ones. We chat about the unusual inheritance strategies of Ambystoma, and territorial behaviour and polymorphism (multiple colour patterns) of red-backed salamanders. There will of course be a slippery surprise in our Species of the Bi-week. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT herphighlights.podbean.com   Main Paper References: Bogart, James P., Jessica E. Linton, and Al Sandilands. 2017. “A Population in Limbo: Unisexual Salamanders (Genus Ambystoma) Decline without Sperm-Donating Species.” Herpetological Conservation and Biology 12 (1): 41–55. Reiter, M. K., Anthony, C. D., & Hickerson, C. A. M. (2014). Territorial behavior and ecological divergence in a polymorphic salamander. Copeia, 2014(3), 481-488. Species of the Bi-week: Mccranie, J. R., & Rovito, S. M. (2014). New species of salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Cryptotriton) from Quebrada Cataguana, Francisco Morazán, Honduras, with comments on the taxonomic status of Cryptotriton wakei. Zootaxa, 3795(1), 61-70. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Bi, K, and JP Bogart. 2010. “Time and Time Again: Unisexual Salamanders (Genus Ambystoma) Are the Oldest Unisexual Vertebrates.” BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 238. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-238. Cleveland, WS, and R McGill. 1984. “Graphical Perceptions: Theory, Experimentation, and Application to the Development of Graphical Methods.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 79 (387): 531–54. Petruzzi, EE, PH Niewiarowski, and FB-G Moore. 2006. “The Role of Thermal Niche Selection in Maintenance of a Colour Polymorphism in Redback Salamanders (Plethodon Cinereus).” Frontiers in Zoology 3: 10. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-3-10. Verrell, P. A., & Krenz, J. D. (1998). Competition for mates in the mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum: tactics that may maximize male mating success. Behaviour, 135(2), 121-138. Music: Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Eurypterids, or ‘sea-scorpions’ are an extinct group of chelicerates: the group containing the terrestrial arachnids (such as spiders and scorpions) and the aquatic ‘merostomes’ (represented today solely by the horseshoe crabs). They bear a gross-morphological resemblance to scorpions (hence the informal name) but, in being aquatic, may have shared more in common with horseshoe crabs. They inhabited the waters of the Paleozoic Era and were typically scavengers or predators. Most eurypterids were quite small and unremarkable, but some genera, such as Pterygotus and Jaekelopterus grew to incredible sizes; the latter reached an estimated 2.5m (8’ 2”) and is still the world’s largest-known arthropod. Described today in BMC- Evolutionary Biology is the oldest-yet-described eurypterid Pentecopterus decorahensis and we've got lead author Dr James Lamsdell, Yale University, to introduce us to the eurypterids and to discuss the significance of this new genus.