Publications by authors named "Rosalind Kennerley"
Article Synopsis
- A database was created to track lost and rediscovered tetrapod species, revealing a faster loss rate than rediscovery, especially for amphibians, birds, and reptiles.
- The study highlights specific regions and species types that are at risk of being lost, which can help focus conservation efforts on finding these species.
- It identifies factors that affect rediscovery chances, indicating that some species may remain hidden due to their characteristics or habitats, while others are more likely extinct, guiding future conservation strategies.
Comparative assessment of the relative information content of different independent spatial data types is necessary to evaluate whether they provide congruent biogeographic signals for predicting species ranges. Opportunistic occurrence records and systematically collected survey data are available from the Dominican Republic for Hispaniola's surviving endemic non-volant mammals, the Hispaniolan solenodon () and Hispaniolan hutia (); opportunistic records (archaeological, historical and recent) exist from across the entire country, and systematic survey data have been collected from seven protected areas. Species distribution models were developed in maxent for solenodons and hutias using both data types, with species habitat suitability and potential country-level distribution predicted using seven biotic and abiotic environmental variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSolenodon genome reveals convergent evolution of venom in eulipotyphlan mammals.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
December 2019
Article Synopsis
- - Venom systems, which aid in predation and defense, have evolved across different organisms, yet various groups, including venomous mammals like shrews and solenodons, are still under-researched.
- - The study focused on the endangered Hispaniolan solenodon, analyzing its venom by constructing a genome to identify toxins and assessing their evolutionary implications and functionalities, revealing that its venom contains specific serine proteases causing hypotensive effects.
- - The results indicated that solenodon and shrew venoms evolved independently from a common ancestor, signifying four independent origins of venom in the Eulipotyphla order, highlighting an instance of convergent evolution where distinct species developed similar functions despite differing genetic backgrounds.
The Hispaniolan solenodon, , and Hispaniolan hutia, , are the Dominican Republic's only surviving endemic non-volant land mammals, and are high priorities for conservation. The country has an extensive protected area (PA) network designed to maintain habitats and benefit biodiversity, but which faces significant anthropogenic threats likely to detrimentally impact both species. We examined how differences in habitats, forest structure, topography, and human activity influence presence of solenodons and hutias across the Dominican Republic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContinued uncertainty persists over the taxonomic status of many threatened Caribbean mammal populations. Recent molecular analysis has identified three genetically isolated allopatric hutia populations on Hispaniola that diverged during the Middle Pleistocene, with observed levels of sequence divergence interpreted as representing subspecies-level differentiation through comparison with genetic data for other capromyids. Subsequent analysis of existing museum specimens has demonstrated biogeographically congruent morphometric differentiation for two of these three populations, Plagiodontia aedium aedium (southwestern population) and P.
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