Instructions
Please see the “Assessment 2 Instructions” document for guidelines.
Annotated Bibliography
Citation:
Jurzenski, J.D., Jorgensen, C.F., Bishop, A., Grosse, R., Riens, J. and Hoback, W.W., 2014. Identifying priority conservation areas for the American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus (Coleoptera: Silphidae), a habitat generalist. Systematics and biodiversity, 12(2), pp.149-162.
Questions:
- Which perspective(s) and stakeholder(s) do the author(s) represent? You may have to research the author(s) or organization to answer this question.
Ans: This study was funded by the Federal Highway administration through grants as well as the US Department of Transportation.
- Explain how you found the source. Is it an open-access source or is it limited by licensing/payment?
Ans: The article was obtained from Google Scholar. It is an open access article which is not limited by payment.
- How is the information packaged? Is it a website, scientific article, a secondary article, blog, etc.?
Ans: This article is a scientific article a journal having a proper abstract to the article that ensures better understanding of the article.
- Describe the credibility of the source, including how the source was found and the authority of the source.
Ans: This article is from scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic and referred journal. It has a specific DOI which further ensures that it has undergone a rigorous review process.
- Explain how this source will be useful for your final project, which is evaluating the species’ candidacy for de-extinction.
Ans: This source helps in establishing the habitat suitability model for the American Burying Beetle stating that the model can be regarded as the important resource for the wildlife managers that are engaged in the recovery of the habitat generalist.
- Describe how the source compares to the other sources that are in this annotated bibliography. Consider how the source confirms, conflicts with, or offers a new perspective on the information.
Ans: There is no observed conflict of interest as declared by the authors. This annotated bibliography provides a new perspective to the information. It helps in establishment of a suitable habitat for sustaining the American Burying beetle species.
Citation:
Bell, L.A., Crawford, P.H., Barstow, A.L., Tanner, C.D. and Porter, D.L., 2013. Using Spatial Models to Target Conservation Efforts for the Endangered American Burying Beetle. The Open Entomology Journal, 7(1).
Questions:
- Which perspective(s) and stakeholder(s) do the author(s) represent? You may have to research the author(s) or organization to answer this question.
Ans: The stakeholders of this article are Fish and wildlife Biologist, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Oklahoma Biological Survey as well as the University of Oklahoma.
- Explain how you found the source. Is it an open-access source or is it limited by licensing/payment?
Ans: This is an open access article that is available in the Google Scholar.
- How is the information packaged? Is it a website, scientific article, a secondary article, blog, etc.?
Ans: This selected article is a scientific article and is packaged in the form of a proper research journal in a formal manner.
- Describe the credibility of the source, including how the source was found and the authority of the source.
Ans: This article is from scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic and referred journal. It has a specific DOI which further ensures that it has undergone a rigorous review process.
- Explain how this source will be useful for your final project, which is evaluating the species’ candidacy for de-extinction.
Ans: This research study focused on the GIS application and modeling tools for accomplishment of the habitat suitability in case of the endangered invertebrates.
- Describe how the source compares to the other sources that are in this annotated bibliography. Consider how the source confirms, conflicts with, or offers a new perspective on the information.
Ans: The sources provide a new perspective of the usage of the GIS tools for developing a suitable and sustainable development strategy that would help in conserving the endangered species.
Citation:
IUCN Red List (2019). https://nc.iucnredlist.org/redlist/amazing-species/nicrophorus americanus/pdfs/original/nicrophorus-americanus.pdf
Questions:
- Which perspective(s) and stakeholder(s) do the author(s) represent? You may have to research the author(s) or organization to answer this question.
Ans: The stakeholders of the article are International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), ARKive and the Species Survival Commission (SSC).
- Explain how you found the source. Is it an open-access source or is it limited by licensing/payment?
Ans: This is first article that props up when searched in the Google website. And IUCN publications are considered to be the most comprehensive ranges of the authoritative publications, reports, databases and guidelines.
- How is the information packaged? Is it a website, scientific article, a secondary article, blog, etc.?
Ans: The information packaged is in the IUCN red list website as a PDF document.
- Describe the credibility of the source, including how the source was found and the authority of the source.
Ans: IUCN is the global main authority on the conservation status of species hence it is important that the recommendations are based on open as well as sound science. IUCN publishes as well as co-authors more than 100 books and publications each year as well as several reports guidelines and documents.
- Explain how this source will be useful for your final project, which is evaluating the species’ candidacy for de-extinction.
Ans: This article is considered to be important for the final project since it details on the reasons for extinction of the American burying beetle species. There is a competition faced by the beetles with the mammalian scavengers in regards to food and the huge reduction in the potential carrion species has further promoted competition.
- Describe how the source compares to the other sources that are in this annotated bibliography. Consider how the source confirms, conflicts with, or offers a new perspective on the information.
Ans: This source confirms the extinction of the American burying beetle and the reason for the extinction and the credibility of the source is taken into consideration.
Citation:
Toussaint, E.F. and Condamine, F.L., 2016. To what extent do new fossil discoveries change our understanding of clade evolution? A cautionary tale from burying beetles (Coleoptera: Nicrophorus). Biological journal of the Linnean Society, 117(4), pp.686-704.
Questions:
- Which perspective(s) and stakeholder(s) do the author(s) represent? You may have to research the author(s) or organization to answer this question.
Ans: The article has been supported by the Linnean Society of London. It is a learned society that is dedicated to the study as well as the dissemination of the information that concerns the evolution, taxonomy and the natural history.
- Explain how you found the source. Is it an open-access source or is it limited by licensing/payment?
Ans: The source has been taken from the Google Scholar and the access is open to all.
- How is the information packaged? Is it a website, scientific article, a secondary article, blog, etc.?
Ans: The information packaged is in the form of a journal.
- Describe the credibility of the source, including how the source was found and the authority of the source.
Ans: This article is from scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic and referred journal. It has a specific DOI which further ensures that it has undergone a rigorous review process.
- Explain how this source will be useful for your final project, which is evaluating the species’ candidacy for de-extinction.
Ans: The fossil information in the research aids in determining the rate at which the species form and go extinct that aids in understanding the cause of the extinction as well as the rate for the species concerned.
- Describe how the source compares to the other sources that are in this annotated bibliography. Consider how the source confirms, conflicts with, or offers a new perspective on the information.
Ans: The source indeed offers a new perspective for the research on the extinction of the American Burying Beetle. This majorly impacts the macro evolutionary interferences.
Citation:
Houston, D.D., Mitchell, K.S., Clouse, J.W., Maughan, P.J., Creighton, J.C., Smith, A.N., Bybee, S.M. and Belk, M.C., 2015. SNP development in North American burying beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae): a tool to inform conservation decisions. Conservation Genetics Resources, 7(2), pp.349-352.
Questions:
- Which perspective(s) and stakeholder(s) do the author(s) represent? You may have to research the author(s) or organization to answer this question.
Ans: The stakeholder of the articles were Brigham Young University specifically the DNA Sequencing center.
- Explain how you found the source. Is it an open-access source or is it limited by licensing/payment?
Ans: This is a limited source that is available in the research database. It has been fetched from Google Scholar.
- How is the information packaged? Is it a website, scientific article, a secondary article, blog, etc.?
Ans: This is a primary article that has been published in Springer. It is specifically a research journal.
- Describe the credibility of the source, including how the source was found and the authority of the source.
Ans: This article is from scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic and referred journal. It has a specific DOI which further ensures that it has undergone a rigorous review process.
- Explain how this source will be useful for your final project, which is evaluating the species’ candidacy for de-extinction.
Ans: The article aids in identification of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) for the population genetic studies as well as the conservation efforts of the North American Burying Beetles.
- Describe how the source compares to the other sources that are in this annotated bibliography. Consider how the source confirms, conflicts with, or offers a new perspective on the information.
Ans: There has no conflicts of interest as stated by the author. The data available from this article not only helps the development of the conservation strategies of this species but also promotes the conservation efforts of the sister species.
Instructions
Please see the “Assessment 4 Instructions” document for guidelines.
Part 1: Finding Species
- Common and scientific name of the candidate species:
- Common name : American Burying Beetles
- Scientific name: Nicrophorus americanus
- Fill in thetaxonomy information:
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Coleoptera
- Family: Silphidae
- Genus: Nicrophorous (source: www.iucnredlist.org, 2020)
- Record species names (common and scientific):
- Nearctic Burying Beetles (Nicrophorus orbicollis )
- Nicrophorous vespilloides
- Margined burying beetle (Nicrophorus marginatus)
- Common burying beetles (Nicrophorus vespillo )
- Nicrophorus dauricus
Part 2: Determining Relatedness
- Predicted relatedness:
- Nicrophorus orbicollis is a Nearctic burying beetle is a species of Nicrophorus genus. This species was originatedin Mexico and Central and South America. The sample species is from the same genus and species so they are closely related to each other(Team, 2020). The species is a decomposer feeding on dead animals. The species is acting as the scientific research element by medically and forensically.
- Nicrophorous vespilloidesis one of the most well acknowledged species for scientific researches. The species can be found in USA and mid and eastern Canada. These are the sister species of the selected species. The species are also fed on dead animals. The female beetles breed on the carcasses to reproduce alike P.carabi.This species is considered as the element of model organism in social community study. This species is more similar to the selected species as both of these are belong to same genus and same family.
- Nicrophorus marginatusis also the member of same family and genus. Therefore, it can be said that the species is nearly related to America burying beetles. The species is nearly relate to the Nicrophorusamericanus.
- Nicrophorus vespilloor Margined burying beetles are another species of the burying beetles and from the same genus and family that of American burying beetles. Due to similarity in genus and family this species is nearly related to Nicrophorus americanus.
- Nicrophorus dauricus is a species of Nicrophorus andcomes under the Silphidaefamily. The species undergoes pupation and several larval stages in total lifespan. Behaviorsof this beetle are similar to that of the American burying beetles.
- Process:
All of the species are from the same species and are closely related to each other. The taxonomical hierarchy was checked for every species and phylogenic characteristics. The tool was usedfor check the relatedness of species. The name of the species should be searchedin One Zoom (Team, 2020). Each of the species are searched in the tools . If they are all the same genus and not on One Zoom, then it is okay to just use shared derived characteristics to predict their relatedness, like the museum activity (Team, 2020). In One Zoom, speciesare searched and phylogenetic tree has shown that interrelation of the species.
Part 3: Identifying Characteristics
- Phylogenetic tree (paste below)
- The names of the species are ;
- American burying beetles (Nicrophorus americanus)
This species is 25 to 45 cm long and have striking and distinctive colors in the body of the beetle. The body of this species is black in color and wings are scallopedwith orange-red markings. The beetles pronotum has orange and red markings. This beetle hasthe orange facial markings and orange tips on the large antennae. These beetles are nocturnal and can fly kilometers in one night(Mckenna-Foster et al,2016). During winter, they bury themselves under the soil to avoid coldness. The lifespan of the burying beetles is 12 months in average. The reproduction of burying beetles are also very different in nature. They spend nearly 7 days and crawl in the soil to reproduce or to develop. Male beetles are tend to collect carcasses for attracting the female partner. The beetles often have rivalry or fights on the carcasses. The female chooses one among them and the winner is allowed to dig the tunnel for storing carcasses as food for their future generation. The females lay eggs on the carcasses in the tunnel. After the development of larvae, both the parents help the offspring in hatch feeding. This is a very rare and unusual behavior among the insects, Average brood size of
N. americanus is 12 to 15.
- Nearctic Burying Beetles (Nicrophorusorbicollis )
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Silphidae
Genus: Nicrophorous
Nicrophorus orbicollis males usually search small bodies of animals for example; rabbits, chipmunks and toads to attract the female partner. The male beetle will emit pheromone attract the mate. The females are more likely to lay eggs to fertilize by the most recent mates. N. orbicollis parents will make available both food and protection for the larvae until pupation. It has also been observed that if one parent is destroyed the other parent will double up on the nourishing and protection duties so the larvae do not feel pain.
- Nicrophorous vespilloides
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Silphidae
Genus: Nicrophorous
This species is observedmainlyfor theircomplex social behavior. Among this speciesmany complicated social behavior can be observed .For example, parental care with regurgitation of food, parent offspring conflict, competition amongthe siblings, and competition among the adults for better resources. Due to the rapid behavioral characteristics, the male beetles do not care about the offspring in presence of female beetles. It has been proven, if the female beetle is removed, a behavioral change can be happened for extensive changes in gene expression in male beetles. The beetles secret some anti-microbial secretion on the carcasses to delay decomposition of dead animal bodies. These beetles continuously maintain the microorganism growth in carcasses for competing with the interspecific competitors such as fly larvae. During initial 24 hours of larval life, the nature of parental care is uniparental (either by father or by mother) or biparental. The species involves highly developedreproduction procedure for social interactions. Nicrophorous vespilloides undergoes DNA methylation by the help of DNA methyltransferases alike T. castaneum.
- Margined burying beetle (Nicrophorus marginatus)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Silphidae
Genus: Nicrophorous
The organisms of the species feed on small carrion. The male beetles use carcasses for attracting their mates. The carcasses are placed in a manner, so that their partnercan smell the presence with the help of antennae. Only one male can mate with the female partner. If any other male is present in the location, it will fly away. The male tunnelsunder the carrion and digs beneath it, with its robust mandibles to cut off some roots or weeds in the soil. The preymoves towards the pit and beetles are shapedinto a ball and removes skin and wings of the fly. The prey was selected at the front of the hollow space and awaits for female partner to arrive. When the courtship of male and female beetlesstart, they copulate. The male is forced to leave the female to lay eggs and eats her first meal in the chamber. Males are usually stayed outside of the hollowcavity to protect the female beetles and prevent the broods for any threats by the parasite and insects.
- Common burying beetles (Nicrophorus vespillo )
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Silphidae
Genus: Nicrophorous
These beetles are scavengers in nature and living on rotten carcasses. They have very good sense of smelland can sense the presence of carcasses up to two miles away. Similar to the other species like NicrophorousvespilloidesandNicrophorusorbicollis, the species reproduces on the carcasses. The carcasses are stored as the food for its off spring. The cadavers are used as medium of brooding and reproduction as N. marginnatus.The females of this species has preferences of decomposition stages of carcasses such as fresh, bloated, post-bloating , advanced decay and dry remains. Several types of carcasses are importantfor attracting the female beetles of this species.
- Common sexton beetle (Nicrophorus dauricus)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Silphidae
Genus: Nicrophorous
The beetles are usually 3 cm long and can be foundin between April and October. These are flattened, chunky and square in appearance. They have bright black and orange pattern in their wings.The beetles are also fed on carcasses or decaying animals. The species can be usually found in the place of corpses and they do not relocate in day light. However, they usually fly at night. Male and females fight off rivals for burying the carcasses. Females lay eggs on the carcasses and left the body in the hollow cavity asthe food of their offspring. Burying beetles are different inthe ground of parenting as both the females and males take care of their offspring. After the hatch –feeding, the parent beetles take care of the offspring.
Part 4: Surrogate Species
- Surrogate species reflection:
Surrogate species are those species, which can help to conserve the characteristics of specific organisms after its extinction or due to critical condition of that species. Surrogacy takes place is the controlled environment and another mother carries the embryo. In this assignment, it can be seen that there is a target species and additional five species have been chosen for checking the relatedness among the organisms. The relatedness was checked by the tool named One Zoomand species are selected from IUCN and other academic resources. Identifying and behavioral characters are mentioned in the assignment. After analyses of the phylogenetic tree, it has been observed that N.americanus is nearly related to N. orbicollis. The characteristics of two species are nearly similar. N. orbicolliscan act as the surrogated species for American burying beetles. The species can carry the embryo of the selected species and help the target species from extinction.
Citation :
Mckenna-Foster, A., Perrotti, L., Blyth, J., LoPresti, E., & Kennedy, R. S. (2016). Measuring success of a reintroduced population of the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus Olivier) to Nantucket Island, MA. Journal of insect conservation, 20(5), 895-904.
Team, O. (2020). OneZoom Tree of Life Explorer, text page for american burying beetle. Retrieved 10 January 2020, from https://www.onezoom.org/life/@Nicrophorus_americanus=34564#x889,y704,w1.0245
www.iucnredlist.org. (2020). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 10 January 2020, from https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/14760/4460296
