California, Installment 1 of 3
Okay...I've put it off long enough...
Here is my brief/in-depth synopsis of my time in California.
We were trapping two subspecies of woodrat, Neotoma lepida gilva (a.k.a. Coastal) and N. lepida lepida (a.k.a. Desert). Woodrats are more commonly known as packrats. There's someone trying to get these two subspecies classified as separate species; when they were originally classified, the definition of "species" that was used stated that separate species canNOT interbreed (hybridize) successfully (meaning having offspring that can also reproduce).
Quinn is trying to prove that even though they do hybridize, the two subspecies are completely different. All their physical characteristics are different: Coastals are dark-furred, weigh in between 140-160g, have long tails, the females have a dark perineum, and the males have a snake (straight) phallus; Deserts are light-furred, weigh in between 120g-140g, have short tails, the females have a white perineum, and the males have a hooked phallus.
They're different behaviorally: Coastals are more docile, live among rocks, eat primarily Yucca whipplei (Lord's Candle, Spanish Dagger, basically common yucca), and the plant diversity around the nests is greater; Deserts are more aggressive, generally nest at the base of Joshua trees or desert almonds, eat mostly Joshua tree, cholla cactus, desert almond, sage, and rabbitbrush, and the plant diversity around the nest is basically everything I just listed, almost all of it considered edible.
Quinn is also studying the hybridization process--we noticed that there are more coastal females than males, while the opposite is true of the deserts. I have a (so far untested) theory that the females of both species are more likely to choose the larger coastal males as mates if given the choice, so the desert species has to produce more males in litters in order to compete with the coastal males--a matter of quality versus quantity.
Here is my brief/in-depth synopsis of my time in California.
We were trapping two subspecies of woodrat, Neotoma lepida gilva (a.k.a. Coastal) and N. lepida lepida (a.k.a. Desert). Woodrats are more commonly known as packrats. There's someone trying to get these two subspecies classified as separate species; when they were originally classified, the definition of "species" that was used stated that separate species canNOT interbreed (hybridize) successfully (meaning having offspring that can also reproduce).
Quinn is trying to prove that even though they do hybridize, the two subspecies are completely different. All their physical characteristics are different: Coastals are dark-furred, weigh in between 140-160g, have long tails, the females have a dark perineum, and the males have a snake (straight) phallus; Deserts are light-furred, weigh in between 120g-140g, have short tails, the females have a white perineum, and the males have a hooked phallus.
They're different behaviorally: Coastals are more docile, live among rocks, eat primarily Yucca whipplei (Lord's Candle, Spanish Dagger, basically common yucca), and the plant diversity around the nests is greater; Deserts are more aggressive, generally nest at the base of Joshua trees or desert almonds, eat mostly Joshua tree, cholla cactus, desert almond, sage, and rabbitbrush, and the plant diversity around the nest is basically everything I just listed, almost all of it considered edible.
Quinn is also studying the hybridization process--we noticed that there are more coastal females than males, while the opposite is true of the deserts. I have a (so far untested) theory that the females of both species are more likely to choose the larger coastal males as mates if given the choice, so the desert species has to produce more males in litters in order to compete with the coastal males--a matter of quality versus quantity.